Oh Baby! Moff delivers double
Striker makes hospital dash to keep Ayr in hunt
ALLOA ................................................ 1 AYR UNITED ...................................... 3
Michael Moffat reckons Ayr can launch a big title push after his deadly double capped a daddy of a performance.
Moff managed less than three hours sleep before his missus Megan gave birth to daughter Mila on Saturday morning.
The new dad then dashed to Alloa and made the second great delivery of the day as he fired Ayr to a priceless three points.
Moff’s double was split by Lawrence Shankland’s 30th goal of the season, a penalty after the man of the moment had been floored at the edge of the box.
Moff revealed: “I slept from 11.30pm to 2am when the process started. We got to hospital at the back of 4am and then the baby was born at 8.15am.
“I was awake from 2am but I didn’t tell the manager that right enough, I told him I had a few hours.
“I spoke to the manager in the morning who said I was in the team and how did I feel. I told him I was all right and ready to go.
“Megan was happy to get rid of me, I would have been in the way! I had a feeling I would score – the last thing the missus said to me was to make sure I got a goal, so plenty pressure!” ALLOA: Parry, Taggart, Graham, Dick, Robertson, Kirkpatrick, Hetherington (Hamilton 78), Shields, Trouten (Aitchison 78), Flannigan, Zanatta. Subs: Cawley, Brown, Peggie, Henry.
AYR: Doohan; Smith, Muirhead, Rose, Harvie; Miller (Crawford 74), Murdoch, Docherty, McDaid (Cadden 62); Moffat, Shankland. Subs: Hare-Reid, Higgins, Bell, Moore, McCowan. Booked: Shankland.
Referee: Mike Roncone. Crowd: 957.
Moffat reckons Ayr can use the upcoming free weekend to get their wounded fit and then crank up the heat on leaders Ross County.
Mark Kerr, Jamie Adams, Andy Geggan and Alan Forrest have all to return and boost a squad that is brimming with confidence and experience.
Moff claimed: “The calibre of players we’ve got, especially from the Premier League, is good for competition.
“We’ll use the break to get some of the injured boys back and should have a full squad for the final push.”
January signings Calvin Miller and Aaron Muirhead were handed first starts while Nicky Cadden was on the bench.
Ayr’s hot start, with Miller especially prominent, paid off after 29 minutes when Moffat lashed a Declan McDaid pass into the top corner.
Alan Trouten, twice an Honest Man, took only a minute to equalise but Ayr regained the lead seven minutes after the break when keeper Neil Parry barged Moffat for a penalty which Shankland blasted home.
Moff was denied a second penalty when clean through before Ross Doohan came up trumps with two big saves.
But Moffat sealed it with three minutes to go with a close range finish after Cadden’s shot was blocked to make it a day he will never forget.
Boss Ian McCall revealed: “We had to wait when we didn’t get the second penalty which was as obvious as the first. Michael was maybe guilty of honesty but it was a tight game.”