diegomarahenry

I’m not sure sitting on a bus, then sitting in the stand at Arbroath would have helped his foot either. He had moved to Scotland to play, trains during the week and plays on a Saturday so trips home will be limited. I’ve absolutely no issue with him going home at the weekend and enjoying himself. I doubt he’ll be at Ayr next season but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pop up somewhere else. He’s given a decent return for the game time he’s been given.

Unfortunately for “sir Dougie” we will be working on it all week to make sure it won’t happen again so I am sure Sean McGinty and Aaron Muirhead have taken this on board and will not let it happen a third week in a row………..

The goal it’s self, Hamilton was surrounded by 4 players, all attracted to the ball. Somehow Hamilton managed to connect and score. It was unlucky that he did. but looking at it, if he hadn’t connected, 4 players went to one man, presumably leaving 3 unmarked in the middle. Same ball as two of the Kilmarnock goals, right across the 6 yard box, keeper rooted and no one on the back post.

Based on him only just arriving in Scottish football, he won’t have accumulated many points. Depends on what it was classed as but I am guessing it could be a couple of games if it was judged as dangerous.

He’s the type of player that does more off the ball than on it, was ok. Overshadowed by McInroy in terms of activity

Partick sum up the championship, they are a team you would avoid when putting on a coupon. They could win or lose 4-0 against Dunfermline.

Is Bullen better than Hopkin? Yes, unquestionably. is he better than Duffy? Yes, he’s shown a willingness to change shape for a start. He was a youth coach 3 months ago, much like youth players he has performed under a lot less pressure and results come secondary to performance. We have to hope he comes good over the next 6 months. Keeping us up, recruiting well in the summer and having a good pre-season, making us at least top 6 next year. if not, we’ll be on our fifth manager in about 18 months.

Moffat brings players in to the game, he would be a waste of time up front on his own in the current squad, Bryden is more suited because he does a lot of running. not keeping the ball, no patient build up and not trying to build attacks means that we have two similar forwards in Adeloye and Ashford and that is the only way we can play. Both Have struggled in games to make an impact so replacing them with a 17 year old is always going to be a risk. And we don’t look like we are going to change any time soon

We were a goal down against Thistle and he brought on Rowe for Houston Same energy

I’m not convinced the lineup will matter, Morton work very hard and play with a lot of intensity under Imrie, we just need to keep the ball off them. Our whole method of play this season has been to treat the ball like a ticking bomb and to give it away easily in the final third. We just need to try and choke the game and hope we score from a corner or free kick….while not conceding from one which will be more likely that we play a free flowing, attacking formation.

I am kind of glad in a way that we played Arbroath today rather than later in the season. we can now hope that Arbroath win all their remaining games to do us and them a favour

We have signed decent players to fix the midfield, that is reducing pressure on the defence and teams aren’t getting a free run at them any more. The goal today, Hamilton was marked by 4 Ayr players and won the header. Going forward we are abysmal. All the neat flicks and tricks that Maxwell and McInroy do around the box rarely work and we lose possession. No overlapping full backs, almost no wide play at all. On Afternoons where we struggle to break a team down we are dreadful to watch, it makes me angry how bad we can be. Ashfords sending off looked like 2 players slide tackling each other, a tangle of legs leading to Ashford stamping on the Arbroath players knackers. I feel sorry for Bryden, shouldn’t be near the first team squad just now but is getting flung on at every opportunity for no apparent reason. What happens next week? McKenzie up front and start O’Gandoh on the right? More likely Baird will play, we will have 5 at the back and maybe dour out a 0-0. Safe to say we are looking no higher than 8th now and hoping we match Dunfermline and QOTS results.

18 month deal as well

I don’t think we have made the Arbroath 18 yard box let alone had an attempt in the second half. Since conceding the goal, Ayr never looked like taking anything out the game. Another absolutely stinking performance in an attacking sense. Arbroath deserved the win based on the second half, Ayr chucked it at 1-0, Ashford looks frustrated and his sending off was part of that. Grim viewing again for Ayr, the only positive is QOTS lost as well.

Maxwell and McKenzie have offered very little, swapping them for O’Conner and Gondoh would have been the obvious choice, no, well bring on a centre half to go 3 at the back, which Arbroath counter to make it 5 at the back. we have had less of the ball since the change.

Another pish afternoon of not having a shot at goal, must be at least the 10th game this season we have managed accomplish that. Now Ashford has been red carded, a huffy potentially injured Adeloye missing last week means we can have either Moffat or Bryden not having a shot at goal next week. to push for an equaliser, we are now taking off a forward and bringing on a defender Christ

Ayr defending high up the pitch is a change. Got caught out a couple of times by quick balls over the top but have handled them well. No midfield battle, just a bit of a mess in the middle of the park from both teams. Ayr have been the slightly better of the two teams but it’s been a fairly dull game so far.

Hopefully if we are safe enough they will get a couple of starts before the end of the season.

An Arbroath v Ayr thread where 2/3 of posts are from Kilmarnock fans

Ayr have a good record against Arbroath, With the signings brought in since the last time we played, we are a much better team. The team absolutely froze in the first 20 minutes of the Kilmarnock game but with less pressure that shouldn't be a factor on Saturday. Ayr have probably not been in a better position to win a league game for about 18 months. This al means one thing. Arbroath 1-0 Ayr to have a key player sent off, Just to make the run-in even more of a challenge. As long as Bullen doesn't come out and say it is a must win, that all the players know it is a must win and they will be doing everything they can to win like Hopkin did, we should avoid a 4-0 scudding.

The last one had a rolling sub as well as legends playing along side fans so there was plenty of opportunity to have a rest. I know someone who played in the game and apparently Ryan Stevenson turned up uninvited, while he was an Ipswich player and decided he was playing.

Tommy Steele made his debut for Ayr I think in that game, He was shit. The team was full of Stainrods junior players. The only other thing I remember about it is the county player interviewed after the game answered all the questions looking straight down the camera rather than the person asking them.

We played a Scottish cup game against Ross County in the very early days of the Daziel era where they sanded the pitch heavily to get the game on, The game was one of the BBC picks for TV coverage, a rarity at the time, Ayr were second division and Ross County were still Highland league. Probably why they were desperate for the game to go ahead. There was so much sand on it, the pitch looked yellow on TV, it gubbed the pitch for years after that. The Kilmarnock, Jim Dick/Ian Ferguson game, the pitch in that game was like Firhill now.

Block booking an astroturf pitch for a time when ordinarily it would be quiet shouldn’t be as expensive as installing and maintaining your own astroturf pitch I wouldn’t have thought. the pitch looked like it still had plenty of grass on it on Friday night, it’s had a lot of rain and not a lot of frost this winter as well. perhaps the dugshit performances are down to nerves and the expectation of getting shouted at by the Partizan home crowd. The crowd who have in turn been subjected to some of the most defensive, uninterested, unappealing football for a generation. it is the old, the support need to lift the team but the team need to lift the support. Friday night, for the first 30 minutes it looked like the team collectively shat themselves. There were no heavy challenges, even when that wee p***k blasted the ball at The fans in the north terrace, no player was at the ref asking questions. The second half, the crowd was more vocal because it looked like the team were actually interested.

Reading is prone to the odd calamity as well. Houston was a wing back when we signed him, the last 3 managers have played him as a full back. He was given the opportunity to go forward against Raith and had a good game. Baird has been the least bad of the centre halfs this year. McGinty turned in to Maldini in the second half on Friday, was one of the most attacking players on the pitch at one point, pushing forward and trying to get us further up the pitch, still capable of a calamity but if he plays like he did for a period on Friday every week then that could be forgiven. Muirhead is a clogger, you need one in a defence, a player that is going to be physical, I don't think it was a surprise that Lafferty matched up against McGinty at corners Fjortoft is an Effy Ambrose type player, does some good things but also some unbelievably brain melting stuff. Would I be sad to see any of them leave in the summer ? probably not. Fjortoft will leave, Rowe will go back to Coventry and maybe Reading will go to a Dundee or Livingston.