Preview Ayr United

Ladbrokes Championship: (away) Saturday 25th August 2018, 3.00pm kick off at Somerset Park.

Ayr United have started the season exceptionally well. Their Betfred Cup wins include against Partick Thistle, Morton and Dundee. They have started the Ladbrokes Championship with a win against Partick Thistle (again) and a solid draw at Inverness. Their season in League One means that Saturday’s meeting is the Pars first visit to Somerset Park since January last year.

The Pars record versus the Honest Men shows one defeat in the last 18 meetings and Ayr have won only one of their last eleven matches.

Milestones v Ayr United (away)

Last League Victory | 12/03/16 | 2-0 | League One
Last League Defeat | 05/12/09 | 0-1 | First Division
Best League Victory | 12/03/94 | 4-0 | First Division
Worst League Defeat | 07/04/51 | 0-8 | Div Two (old)

This will be the 100th league meeting between the clubs. Soccerbase tells us that the Pars have won 45 to Ayr`s 28, 24 have been drawn. The Pars have lost only four of the last 34 league meetings. Ayr United have only won 8 of the last 56 games between the sides in all competitions stretching back to 1983.

Soccerbase stats do not include results from 1945-46. In 1945, the War had ended and all clubs agreed to play in a whole Scottish League (unlike other wartime seasons), and there were two full divisions. The league was still called the Southern League (even though it included the likes of Aberdeen and Dundee who had previously been in the North-East League), but to all intents and purposes it was the Scottish League so is included in the club’s stats from that season. Unfortunately including this season’s results takes Ayr’s wins to 30.


Last Twelve League Meetings v Ayr United
Date | H/A | F-A | W D L | League

18/03/17 | H | 0-1 | L | Championship
07/01/17 | A | 2-0 | A | Championship
03/12/16 | H | 1-1 | D | Championship
01/10/16 | A | 0-0 | D | Championship
12/03/16 | A | 2-0 | W | League One
13/02/16 | H | 3-2 | W | League One
12/12/15 | A | 2-1 | W | League One
12/09/15 | H | 0-2 | L | League One
07/03/15 | H | 2-1 | W | League One
31/01/15 | A | 2-0 | W | League One
06/12/14 | H | 4-2 | W| League One
10/10/14 | A | 1-0 | W | League One

The sides met five times in the season before last. Dunfermline won four and Ayr United one.

The last meeting at Somerset Park
Saturday 18th January 2017
Ayr United 0 Dunfermline 2

Dunfermline travelled to Somerset Park unbeaten in their last six league matches to face an Ayr United team undefeated in their last three.

Jason Talbot was instrumental in creating the first goal of the game. His 26th minute shot from the edge of the box was deflected past Greg Fleming by Nicky CLARK to make it 0-1.

The visitors added a second seven minutes later. Paul McMullan won a corner on the right and when Higginbotham delivered GEGGAN rose to head the ball on target, it got blocked but fell sweetly for the former Ayr player to clip the ball back in to the far side of the Ayr net. Andy`s first goal since July made it 0-2.

AYR UNITED: Greg Fleming: Nicky Devlin, Conrad Balatoni, Scott McKenna, Paddy Boyle: Jamie Adams (Michael Rose 73), Robbie Crawford, Alan Forrest, Gary Harkins, Paul Cairney, Kevin Nisbet (Brian Gilmour 62).
SUBS NOT USED: Daryl Meggat, Mikey Donald, Peter Murphy, Mick Wardrope, Jordan Hart (GK)

DUNFERMLINE: Sean Murdoch: Andy Geggan, Callum Fordyce (c), Lee Ashcroft, Jason Talbot: Paul McMullan, John Herron, Nat Wedderburn, Kallum Higginbotham (Joe Cardle 82): Nicky Clark (Gavin Reilly 75), Michael Moffat (Farid El Alagui 87)
SUBS NOT USED: Lewis Martin, Rhys McCabe, Michael Paton, David Hutton (GK)

Recent Form in last six matches

Ayr United are undefeated in their eight matches this season.

DUNFERMLINE
Hearts (H) L 0-1
Inverness Caley Thistle (A) W 2-1
Ross County (H) L 1-3
Dundee United (A) W 3-2
Stirling Albion (H) W 3-1
Brechin City (A) W 7-1

AYR UNITED
Dundee (A) W 3-0
Queens Park (A) D 0-0
Inverness Caley Thistle (A) D 0-0
Partick Thistle (H) W 2-0
Partick Thistle (A) W 2-0
Stenhousemuir (H) W 5-0

Much of Ayr’s success is due to the skills and experience of their manager, Ian McCall, who is of course well known at East End since he brought a great deal of joy to fans during the 1980’s revival under Jim Leishman.

He has retained his Pars connections at Ayr with four of his most influential senior players - Steven Bell, Michael Moffat, Andy Geggan and Lawrence Shankland. Shankland in particular has hit the highlights with eleven goals already this season and he is someone that the Pars back line will need to single out for special watching.

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE (v Hearts) Lee Robinson: Lee Ashcroft (c), Mark Durnan, Danny Devine: Ryan Williamson, James Vincent, Louis Longridge, James Craigen (Andy Ryan 86), Jackson Longridge: Faissal El Bakhtaoui, Myles Hippolyte (Aidan Connolly 81).
SUBS NOT USED: Kallum Higginbotham, Stuart Morrison, Joe Thomson, Callum Smith, Cammy Gill (GK).

AYR UNITED (v Dundee): Ross Doohan: Andy Geggan, Jamie Adams, Michael Rose, Daniel Harvie: Allan Forrest (Derek McDaid 74), Robbie Crawford (Steven Bell 89), Mark Kerr, Andy Murdoch: Michael Moffat, Lawrence Shankland (Craig Moore 89).
SUBS NOT USED: David Ferguson, Liam Smith, Craig McGuffie, E Hare-Reid (GK)

Although Somerset Park is not the most modern of football stadiums, the standing fans love it. A wee trip to Ayr in August can’t be a bad thing!

Referee will be Euan Anderson.

Other Championship Fixtures 25/08/18

Dundee United v Partick Thistle
Falkirk v Queen of the South
Inverness Caley Thistle v Alloa Athletic
Morton v Ross County

Related Stories

• Dunfermline 0 Hearts 1
• Inverness Caley Thistle 1 Dunfermline 2
• Dunfermline 1 Ross County 3
• Managers post Hearts