Safety hopes haven’t yet struck the rocks
THEY remain stuck between a Dumbarton Rock and a relegation place but Ayr United’s chances of remaining in the Ladbrokes Championship next season look much rosier after this hard-earned triumph over their bottom-three rivals.
It was nail-nibbling stuff for the locals, mind you. Leading 2-1 against 10 men, the jittery hosts had their sprightly custodian Greg Fleming to thank for safeguarding the three points as he pulled off two terrific blocks to thwart a late Dumbarton salvage operation.
The win hoists Ayr level on points with yesterday’s visitors while moving them four points clear of St Mirren, who prop up the division but hold a game in hand due to their participation in yesterday’s Irn-Bru Cup final.
Those fingernails are going to take a bit more punishment before this campaign is done.
“We got a bit nervy when they went down to 10 men and we shouldn’t have to rely on Greg to make those saves,” said Ayr manager Ian McCall. “We could have made it easier for ourselves but winning is all that matters.”
Given the perilous position of both sides in the league, it was hardly surprising that the initial to-ings and fro-ings were decidedly cagey. However, after a largely uninspiring opening 15 minutes, a flurry of rapid-fire activity brought an injection of considerable vigour into proceedings.
Alan Forrest brought out a fine save from the Dumbarton goalkeeper Alan Martin after 17 minutes before Fleming leapt to his right moments later to beat away a searing drive from Callum Gallagher.
Within a couple of minutes of that, though, Ayr’s defences were breached. Having launched a counter-offensive which broke down, they swiftly found themselves on the back foot and the scampering Lewis Vaughan jinked his way to the byline before neatly cutting the ball back for Robert Thomson who swept home a tidy finish to give Dumbarton the lead.
From that point on, Stephen Aitken’s side looked extremely comfortable in their position of authority while Ayr’s general huffing and puffing generated nothing more than a series of exasperated growls and groans from the main stand. The Ayr players seemed destined to trudge off at half-time to a chorus of jeers from their supporters, but suddenly there were cheers all round just as the whistle was about the blow when Farid El Alagui saw his header tipped on to the bar but reacted quickly to prod the rebound into the net.
It was a sore one for the visitors but they came within a whisker of restoring their advantage within a minute of the resumption when Sam Stanton whistled a volley across the goal.
Ayr responded with gusto, though, and launched something of a charge of the black and white brigade which eventually brought a second goal after 51 minutes when Robbie Crawford surged into the box and angled a fine finish past Martin.
When Garry Fleming was sent off for a hefty clatter on Ross Docherty, Dumbarton’s task became even more daunting.
Ayr should have put the tin lid on things when Forrest darted clear but he had his shot blocked by Martin.
The 10 men of Dumbarton still posed plenty of menace, though, and both Thomson and Greg Buchanan had close range efforts superbly saved by Fleming to ensure United collected a third win in four league games, after a desperate run of 11 matches without one.