yorkshirepud

D and F cruising home unopposed.

Few years ago, Ayr had a promising full back who made a daft challenge in a play off game and was rightly sent off. Ayr lost the play off and the full back's confidence disappeared off a cliff as he realised what he had cost the club. Had it happened in a dead rubber then nobody would have cared, he would have learned a lesson and wouldn't have left the club within a year, under a cloud. Get them used to playing at that level in meaningless games first and gradually build them up to the higher intensity games. It will be interesting to see where those 2 St Johnstone youngsters are in 5 years time. Scottish football is littered with stories of promising youngsters who have disappeared due to the demands of the safety-first approach. We need to get rid of this mentality that every game needs to be important. Some of us might enjoy a season or two of mid-table mediocrity if we could see a promising team being built and some good younger players coming through that we know could be sold for a few bob and a chunky sell-on clause.

I can't remember every detail of the conversation and don't claim to speak for him, but the gist of it was variety. Playing the same teams over and over again is boring. It is possible to play the same team 8 times in a season at our level. With 18 or 20 you see different teams and the league tends to be more evenly spread. Ten team leagues can see teams detached if they are either too strong or too weak for the rest. (See Brechin for details) This is less likely with more teams as there is likelier to be a larger group of similar teams. From a personal perspective I don't see the "meaningless games" argument. I see it as time to play some fringe players and try different formations. It is no coincidence Scottish football produced some terrific players in the 60's and 70's when we had larger leagues but this dried up when we moved to a 10 team top division as the fear factor stifled creativity and brought about a safety-first culture.

Not if they lose a home game or two with the bigot brothers.

Not at all. He doesn't see 14 or 16 working and wants either 18 or 20 as he said in the "Daily Record" article and is exactly what he said 10 years ago when I discussed it with him. He knows however this won't fly as the Bigots and Sky will block it. It's called principles, something that some clubs in Scotland couldn't even spell.

So if 40 of the 42 say "Yes" it can still fall if 2 Premiership teams say "no". 2 clubs can still dictate to the other 42. *sigh*

Except he is in LA.

Ayr have scored 11 goals in last 15 league games. 6 of those games were goalless, including the last 3. Scored more than once on two occasions, both v Alloa. Not sure why qos fans have ayr as favourites, especially when you add in Ayr's awful record at Palmerston.

Goal down, last minute and Ayr fanny about at back instead if launching it. Ridiculous.

Would Ayr have the same fixture backlog if they had a plastic pitch? Would it mean games played on Saturday with larger crowds than in midweek?

First goal was just another we have conceded to an aimless ball into the box, pretty much par for the course this season, but what in the name of f are Harvie and Roscoe doing at that 2nd goal? Just let him run straight through between them and only started running back when the ball trundled past Doohan.

Speak for yourself. East Fife and Montrose please.

He's just a bellend. Put him on ignore like I did years ago and just let him type his shite into nothingness.

Showing my age a bit here. Can remember my old man taking me to a reserve game at Somerset against Falkirk. Would have been 4 or 5 at the time. Ayr won 4-2 and the first team also beat Falkirk at Brockville that day, I believe it was 3-2. First away game was Clyde at Shawfield on the final day of the season where Ayr avoided relegation, despite losing. Mid/early 1980's? First Scotland game was a 1-1 draw with England at Hampden. Mark McGhee scored for Scotland from a Gordon Strachan cross but England equalised before half time to a stunned silence. How dare they!

Ayr v Inverness was called off half an hour before kick off last season as it was blawin a hoolie. Goal kicks just sailed into north terracing and was right decision as game would have been an utter farce.

If I remember right, the red was overturned on appeal. For a punch in the face! According to their manager "He's not that type of player" Aye right.

Ayr were poor last night. The defence just looked nervous all night which was odd considering the 3 successive clean sheets against ICT, County and Pars. Graham seemed to unsettle them and Zanatta gave Houston a bit of a roasting in the first half. Midfield contributed very little and Drinan didn't affect the game at all. Penalty looked soft on first viewing but replay from another angle confirmed it was the correct decision, about the only big decision he got right all night. Conversely, the Muirheid/ Cardle incident looked the correct call until you saw the replay and realised how wrong they got it. Looked a rugby tackle from Muirheid but was actually a headlock from Cardle who then elbowed him on the head twice as they lay on the ground. A ban notification from the SFA should be forthcoming but I somehow doubt it as he was shown a yellow at the time. Ayr seem more compact under Kerr but have lost a lot of the sexy soccer sparkle from earlier in the season. Only time will tell if the more pragmatic approach is the right one but 1-0 wins at home and 1-1 draws away aren't to be sniffed at in our position. Thistle? Much better than the last time at Somerset but that wouldn't be difficult as they were an utter shambles that day. Think Graham might be their saviour as he will always score goals in this division. If he gets injured though....

Didn't voice it here but did elsewhere. 3 consecutive 1-0 wins against 3 of our bogey teams is tremendous stuff. Will happily chomp the humble pie tonight for my tea.

Don't disagree. It just irks that they went up in 2nd place when it was 2 up 2 down into a 10 team top division and have finished 2nd bottom repeatedly without being relegated. The only reason they have stayed as long as they have is they are possibly the biggest benefactors of the self-preservation league's gerrymandering of 1 up 1 down. Having said that we would probably have missed playing them if they had got their comeuppance as we would likely have been down in the seaside league.

That's unfair. They at least scored in their last league defeat, after failing to score in any of the 6 games in December when they picked up 1 solitary point. 1 point and 1 goal in 7 games. If they can keep that form going please......

No idea what Dallas was thinking with the Vigurs tackle. 2 footed scissor tackle then jumps up pointing at the ball, claiming he has played the ball, which has mysteriously ended up behind him. Aye, ok then. Free-kick and yellow card. Tillson tackle was reckless, studs up and endangering an opponent. Awful tackle. Merited a red. Drinan did him a favour by getting back up so quickly as a bit of highland-style rolling around milking it for all its worth might have seen a different outcome. Other than that, Ayr looked ok. Defended well against a typically huge physical bunch of highland hammer throwing fermers. Good practice for next week when it is serious. Drinan looks exactly the type of forward we have been crying out for as he held up the ball well and brought others into the game. Looked a handful.

Love that clip. It is almost hypnotic.

Understandably. 18 points from 9 games prior to Kerr's appointment and 10 from the 10 games since. Hardly a stellar start. Maybe a couple of wins will see the confidence return but we are starting to look at the bottom rather than top end of the table. Not panicking yet, but certainly starting to get worried. Is it as simple as sticking to 433 as 8t works for us while 442 clearly doesn't?

All Kerr needs to do is stop us giving away stupid goals and make us harder to beat. Sort out the back lot and we will be fine.

2 dreadful offside calls. A penalty that wasn't. A red card for the type of comment that goes unpunished in the vast majority of games in a weekend. You could say Ayr were screwed by the officials. Then you look at the defending for the other 3 goals and realise they were masters of their own downfall again. Reckon about 2/3 to 3/4 of the goals lost this season have been down to individual errors and those 3 yesterday were laughable. Any money Kerr has in January should be spent on making Ayr harder to beat as yesterday underlined that teams just have to sit back, soak up the pressure and wait for the back lot to present them with an easy chance.