Ayr United 1 - 0 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, January 25th, 2020, 3:00 PM at Somerset Park, Ayr
Attendance: 1,602
Referee: Greg Aitken
Ayr United Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Stephen Kelly (61) None.

Team Managers
Mark Kerr John Robertson

Starting Eleven
Ross Doohan
Jordan Houston
Aaron Muirhead
Steven Bell
Daniel Harvie
Ross Docherty
Mark Kerr
Stephen Kelly
Michael Moffat
Aaron Drinan
Alan Forrest
Mark Ridgers
Shaun Rooney
Kevin McHattie
Carl Tremarco
Brad Mckay
Charlie Trafford
Aaron Doran
James Vincent
Jordan White
James Keatings
Miles Storey

Bench
Ellis Hare-Reid
Sam Rosscoe-Byrne
Kris Doolan
Luke McCowan
Craig McGuffie
Michael Hewitt
Mark McKenzie
Cameron Mackay
Lewis Toshney
Jamie McCart
Tom Walsh
Sean Welsh
David Carson
Nikolay Todorov

Substitutions
Mark McKenzie -> Alan Forrest (90)
Sam Rosscoe-Byrne -> Michael Moffat (90+3)
Tom Walsh for Miles Storey (66)
David Carson for James Keatings (66)
Nikolay Todorov for Charlie Trafford (75)

Bookings
Ross Docherty (85) None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Ridgers (GK) 116 apps -
Shaun Rooney 68 apps8 goals
Kevin McHattie 25 apps -
Carl Tremarco 195 apps15 goals
Brad Mckay 132 apps7 goals
Aaron Doran 270 apps46 goals
Charlie Trafford 87 apps4 goals
James Vincent 91 apps6 goals
Jordan White 80 apps23 goals
Miles Storey 62 apps16 goals
James Keatings 22 apps5 goals
Tom Walsh (sub) 59 apps12 goals
David Carson (sub) 28 apps -
Nikolay Todorov (sub) 24 apps5 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Shaun Rooney (23 years 188 days)
Oldest Player:Carl Tremarco (34 years 114 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 52 days
Domestic Players:6 (54.55 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Cameron Mackay (20 years 52 days)
Oldest Player:Carl Tremarco (34 years 114 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 270 days
Domestic Players:11 (61.11 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

As Rabbie once said to me....

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain For promis'd joy.

On the day of the Bard of Ayrshire, Inverness faced the Honest Men at Somerset Park with a new look defence after Coll Donaldson jumped ship, with Lewis Toshney joining Tom Walsh and Sean Welsh on the bench. The departing Jamie McCart was also benched again.There was the added incentive of Dundee crashing 2-0 at East End Park last night and three points for either side would be a huge bonus.

Stephen Kelly scored the only goal of the game after an hour and both sides hit the woodwork, but it was no more than Ayr deserved as they closed the gap on Inverness to just one point. Our new defence got in a fankle at the goal allowing Kelly to take advantage.

From the quill of the Bard himself, and so true......

There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.

I think whilst we were on the end of some pretty debatable calls from the referee, Ayr were the better team throughout the 90 minutes and deserved the win. Kerr seemed to set Ayr up a bit more defensively than previous match ups and they let us carry the ball forward with little pressure but we were swarmed as we entered the Ayr half and forced to thread balls through a well organised Ayr midfield and defence (which we couldn't do) or try and dink a ball up to White and later Todorov (which we also couldn't do).

When Ayr seized the ball they broke with real pace and direction quickly feeding the ball wide to Forrest or Moffat on the flanks or looking to play a pass in behind the ICT centre backs and a lot of their good chances game from this. Only a triple block/save combination from McHattie and Ridgers stopped Ayr opening the scoring in the first half which saw wave after wave of attacks threaten the ICT rearguard. Fortunately we held them off and had the ball in the net when Keatings lifted a free kick in for White who beat Doohan to the ball and flicked it in but the referee gave a free kick for a foul by White. Seemed pretty soft but it would have been hard on Ayr had we gone ahead (though thoroughly pleasing obviously).

Second half and there seemed to be a strong claim for a penalty when Doran broke into the box and looked like he was pushed in the back sending him to the ground but the referee waved play on. Not long after this Ayr scored. I didn't see what happened but after I had stopped admiring my new trainers I looked up to see Trafford on his arse and Kelly seizing on a loose ball, heading for goal before calmly slotting past Ridgers. No more than Ayr deserved in fairness but frustrating nonetheless from an ICT point of view.

Match report written by tm4tj



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Dundee Utd 22 17 2 3 49 17 32 53
2. Inverness CT 21 11 2 8 29 23 6 35
3. Ayr United 21 11 1 9 34 30 4 34
4. Dundee 21 8 5 8 26 30 -4 29
5. Dunfermline 22 8 4 10 33 30 3 28
6. Arbroath 22 8 4 10 20 25 -5 28
7. Morton 21 8 2 11 29 40 -11 26
8. Queen of the South 20 7 4 9 22 24 -2 25
9. Alloa Athletic 22 6 6 10 26 36 -10 24
10. Partick Thistle 22 6 4 12 29 42 -13 22