Accies 1 Ayr United 3: Saturday, 31 October 1998

Accies were well beaten at home by a superior Ayr side today. Accies lined up with Ross McLaren replacing the suspended Chris Hillcoat and with Darren Henderson as stand-by captain.

Accies started the game on the back foot and seemed happy to allow Ayr the free run of the park. It was really no surprise when Ayr scored after about 13 minutes, although the goal was a bit scrappy, with a deflected shot by Andy Millen beating Ian McFarlane. Surprisingly, Ayr seemed to sit back after this, with Nicky Henderson taking control of the midfield.

In fact it was one of his crosses which released Eddie Cunnington into the box ten minutes before half time. He was clearly tripped and Gary Wales made another excellent job of the penalty.

Ayr controlled the game for large spells in the second half and Andy Walker scored an excellent second goal, when he was given loads of space inside the Accies penalty box to turn and smash the ball high past McFarlane. To be perfectly, honest, the contest between Walker and Ross McLaren was a bit of a mismatch, with Walker using all of his tricks on the young defender. To his credit, McLaren did improve during the game.

The final goal came five minutes from the end when the otherwise anonymous Glynn Hurst crossed low into the box for Iain Ferguson to score. Cue a mass exodus of Accies fans.

It's hard to find players to give pass marks to after this defeat. It was obvious that Darren Henderson was having a nightmare yet Colin Miller let him complete the 90 minutes. I can only assume that the unused substitutes Gary Clark and Tommy Tait aren't fit at the moment. Ian McAulay may have been a standout player for Stranraer last year but he's unable to compete at first division level. The defensive group of McFarlane, Renicks, McLaren, McKenzie, Thomson and Cunnington seem to be OK until you look at how many goals have been conceded recently. In midfield, only Nicky Henderson has any real skill and there seemed to be no linking between the midfield and the attack. Gary Wales and Steve McCormick are good up front but were starved of the ball today. Gary Wales was booked in the second half for a fairly obvious dive in the Ayr box.

I don't know where we go from here, but if we keep losing goals like this we'll certainly be relegated. We're lucky that there are three teams below us - although it may not be for long.

Accies : McFarlane, Renicks, Cunnington, McLaren, McKenzie, Thomson, McAulay, N Henderson, Wales, McCormick (McFarlane) and D Henderson.

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