Hazard saves the day for Dark Blues
Mark Kerr vowed Tuesday’s re-match at Dens Park will be a game of chess after Ayr and Dundee fought out a stalemate in the Somerset Park rain.
Conor Hazard was the visitors’ hero when he brilliantly saved an Aaron Muirhead penalty to earn them their fourth clean sheet in a row and stretch their unbeaten run to five games.
Ayr have cut the gap on secondtop Inverness to two points but were kicking themselves they didn’t fully cash in on the Highlanders’ surprise slip at Alloa.
Somerset boss Kerr claimed: “I felt comfortable in the game. We went three up top, asked questions and put them under pressure.
“We had two or three chances in the first half and probably should have scored. We definitely did enough to win the game.
“I was happy the referee gave us a penalty, I’m not going to shout about whether or not someone should have been sent off.
“The league is so tight now and I don’t think Ross Doohan has had many saves to make. Now we’ve got Tuesday to go and deal with.
“It’s like a game of chess, we’ll tweak things and they’ll tweak things.”
Dundee boss James Mcpake claimed there wasn’t much football played but that was down to the conditions.
He claimed: “We conceded a penalty and showed real character with the great save from Conor.
“We’re never happy with a point but we showed a real desire not to concede.
“It was difficult for both teams and they weren’t able to show their quality in the conditions.
“I’m obviously disappointed as I am never happy with a point but it will be a completely different game on Tuesday.”
The strong-running Cammy Kerr took only three minutes to threaten the Ayr goal with a run and shot which forced Ross Doohan to push the ball away.
Alan Forrest touched wide an Aaron Drinan cross as Ayr hit back while Graham Dorrans twice went close for Dundee. His first effort was punched away while his second attempt from the edge of the box was comfortably saved.
Dundee came close to taking the lead after 31 minutes. More good play by Dorrans set up Jordan Mcghee but his curling shot took a deflection before clipping the post and going behind for a corner.
Dundee had a let-off in the 56th minute when Michael Moffat turned home a Jordan Houston pass only for the stand-side assistant to flag for offside.
And there was another escape for the Dens men four minutes later when Kerr tripped Moffat to concede a penalty but Muirhead’s effort was superbly saved by Hazard.
Jordan Forster had a looping header saved while Kane Hemmings fizzed a thunderbolt wide as Dundee tried force the issue.