Preview Ayr United
Sunday, 1st Dec 2013The story of this season`s William Hill Scottish Cup continues on Wednesday night when Ayr are the visitors in the Fourth Round replay.
The story of this season`s William Hill Scottish Cup continues on Wednesday night when Ayr are the visitors in the Fourth Round replay. Saturday`s match was just the Pars second drawn match of the season but there was not much between the sides and both came close to scoring a winner at Somerset Park. Ayr United sit immediately below Dunfermline in League One and as anticipated formed tough opponents. Andy Geggan put Dunfermline ahead against the club he was signed from but 13 minutes into the second half Michael Donald scored an equaliser.
The sides have already met this season at East End Park, that was on 28th September and when the home side recorded a resounding 5-1 victory. That day after going behind to a Michael Moffat goal in the second minute, the home side hit back to be 4-1 up at half time. Whittle, Geggan and Falkingham hit good goals after Wallace had equalised from the spot. Wallace added another in the second half to thoroughly see off their opponents.
The sides have been drawn against each other six times and its 3-3 on progress with now two ties being drawn. Ayr United have won through in the last two pairings, winning 2-1 in Dunfermline in January 1993 and winning 3-0 in the last meeting in Ayr. That was in 2002 when Jimmy Calderwood`s much fancied side were dumped out of the Cup with Gus MacPherson scoring a spectacular own goal.
Cup Record
The Ayrshire club went on to knock out Dundee United that season before succumbing to Celtic. Since then they have never lost a Scottish Cup tie by more than two goals but on seven occasions out of the eleven they have exited in front of their own fans.
| Season | DUNFERMLINE | AYR UNITED | ||||||
| 2012-13 | H | Hamilton | 0-2 | Round 5 | A | Forfar Athletic | 1-2 | |
| 2011-12 | H | Inverness CT | 1-3 | Round 4 | H | Hibs | 0-2 | |
| 2010-11 | A | Aberdeen | 0-1 | Round 5 | H | St Mirren | 1-2 | |
| 2009-10 | H | Celtic | 2-4 | Round 5 | A | Dundee | 1-2 | |
| 2008-09 | N | Falkirk | 1-3 | Semi Final | A | Kilmarnock | 1-3 | |
| 2007-08 | A | Partick Thistle | 1-2 | Round 4 | A | Partick Thistle | 1-2 | |
| 2006-07 | N | Celtic | 0-1 | Final | H | St Johnstone | 4-5 | |
| 2005-06 | H | Airdrie United | 3-4 | Round 3 | H | Inverness CT | 0-2 | |
| 2004-05 | H | Celtic | 0-3 | Round 4 | H | St Mirren | 0-2 | |
| 2003-04 | N | Celtic | 1-3 | Final | H | Falkirk | 1-2 | |
Ayr United are five points behind the Fifers in the league but Moffat is the league`s top goalscorer with thirteen goals and the Scottish Cup record against Ayr United has been poor of late.
| Dunfermline | Ayr United |
| Current League Position | |
| 2 | 3 |
| Recent Results | |
| WLWWWD | WWLDWD |
| League Points | |
| 23 | 28 |
| Goal Difference | |
| +3 | +8 |
| Home / Away League Record | |
| P7, W5, D0, L2 | P7, W3, D3, L1 |
Prior to Saturday Dunfermline had won five of their last six matches and Ayr four of their last six. The Somerset Park club have lost just two away games all season, at Partick and at Dunfermline.
Ayr United defeated Queens Park 3-2 in Round Three and Dunfermline won through 5-3 at Elgin.
Last Time Out
DUNFERMLINE (v Ayr United): Ryan Scully, Ross Millen, Kerr Young, Callum Morris, Alex Whittle; Shaun Byrne, Andy Geggan, Josh Falkingham (c), Allan Smith (Craig Dargo 71), Ryan Thomson, Ryan Wallace.
SUBS NOT USED: Lewis Martin, Ryan Ferguson, Jordan Moore, Ryan Williamson, Chris Kane, Ryan Goodfellow (GK).
AYR UNITED (v Dunfermline): David Hutton; Adam Hunter, Alan Lithgow, Scott McLaughlin (c), Gordon Pope; Anthony Marenghi, Robbie Crawford (Alan Forrest 64), Brian Gilmour, Michael Donald; Kevin Kyle, Michael Moffat.
SUBS NOT USED: Willie Muir (GK), Craig Malcolm, Craig McCracken, Michael McGowan
Referee will be Stephen Finnie.
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