Ayr’s poor form worrying fans
Millbrae men have lost 3 out of 5
I have omitted the expletive which preceded the above comment uttered by a totally disillusioned veteran Ayr man at the end of what was not only a crushing defeat for the Millbrae men but, with three games now lost out of the last five, constitutes a loss of form which must have the coaches seriously worried.
Add to that the last- minute win against Stirling County last week when Ayr took the lead for the first time in injury time and you have to be looking at a side who have not only gone off the boil but whose gas is barely at a peep.
The horrendous overhead and underfoot conditions were always going to make this Tennents Premiership clash a slog , which meant that the side who adapted best to the glaur and rain would prevail – and Heriots did that in spades.
They took on Ayr in the forwards and gave them a going over the like of which has not been seen at Millbrae for a long time, controlling the game by keeping it simple, focussed and close.
Yet after four minutes Ayr were in the lead after a delightful chip through by Danny McCluskey was gathered beautifully by Paddy Dewhirst and Frazier Climo obliged with the conversion. That was the last time the words like ‘ beauty’ and ‘ delight’ could be used for the next 76 minutes in the context of Ayr’s performance as they were shredded by Heriots mastery of the conditions and had no answer as their building frustration showed.
Ross Jones nailed a penalty to get Heriots on the board then piled on the pressure which resulted in Ayr giving away a series of penalties which culminated in Blair Macpherson being sent to the cooler for 10 minutes.
That Heriots would take full advantage was a given as they put the ball into the corner, drove the lineout and hooker Michael Liness was the player to emerge from the heap to claim the try.
Going in 8- 7 ahead was no more than Heriots deserved, but when they fumbled from the restart to give Ayr field position, the opportunity was there for Ayr to get back into the game. But unimaginative and undisciplined play coupled with manic Heriots defending saw them get nowhere. Almost inevitably, when play swung back to the Ayr red zone, another line out drive saw Liness again the man to claim the touchdown and take the visitors more than a score ahead after Jones slotted the conversion.
The Heriots pack were now, if not rampant, certainly in dominant mode and there was nothing Ayr seemed to be able to do about it with the result, when another driving maul was collapsed, it was Steven Longwell’s turn to feel the wrath of referee Keith Allan as he earned Ayr’s second yellow card.
To be fair, the 14 men did their best to keep the scoreline within catching distance as they had done last week at Stirling, but although a Jones penalty was scant reward for their territory and possession, it gave that psychological edge to Heriots and it was almost a forgone conclusion that a line out drive would again take them over the line and equally predictable that Liness would claim his hat- trick try.
Ayr could make nothing work, in the set piece where they were taken apart, in the line out, from which they could create very little and in the open field where slick passing was as optimistic as a Theresa May sound bite – and about as effective.
The only question remaining was – would Heriots heap the humiliation further with a bonuspoint try?
At least Ayr were spared that ignominy but nevertheless, with a trip to the Greenyards to face an on- form Melrose coming up next week to end the year, the chances of some Christmas cheer coming Ayr’s way, on this sort of showing seems very remote.