Shankland set on helping Ayr return to the Championship

Ex-aberdeen striker Lawrence Shankland is looking to bounce back at Ayr after just missing out on a dream move to Swansea City, writes Craig P Stewart.

The 22-year-old who started his career at Queen’s Park and had loan spells at Dunfermline, St Mirren and Morton before leaving the Dons after four years in the summer was on trial with Swansea’s under-23 side last month. He came up just short when it came to getting a deal and returned north to sign for long-term admirer Ian Mccall at Ayr United.

Shankland said: “Swansea was an amazing experience because the facilities they had were incredible. I was down there for a couple of weeks and took part in a couple of games. I thought that I did well but I just missed out on getting a deal.”

He added: “When I saw the set-up Ayr have it was an easy decision to make. Ayr are a Championship club and hopefully I can help them get back there.”

Shankland knows he is not guaranteed a starting jersey. He said: “There is real competition for places with Craig Moore and Michael Moffat scoring lots of goals. Craig was injured at the weekend and that allowed me to get a start against Raith Rovers at the weekend.

“It was good to be back playing again but I was frustrated at losing 2-1. It was great to get my first goal since being at Morton. Now that everything is settled I want to score goals and do my bit for the team.”