Ayr United rocked by Covid crisis
Boss David Hopkin sees squad decimated by cases
Ayr United have been plunged into a Covid crisis as club chiefs moved to shut down first team training this week.
The Honest Men have recorded five positive cases in their squad since late last week.
Three of the virus-hit players missed Saturday’s trip to Inverness before another two returned positive tests on Monday.
United’s training base was shut down on Tuesday as officials at the JRG (Joint Response Group) made a call on whether Saturday’s home game against Raith could go ahead.
Rules state Ayr could still be forced to play the game assuming they have 13 fit bodies to field a team.
But it’s understood SFA bosses were considering a ‘circuit breaker’ which could see football staff isolate from the club for up to 10 days in a bid to stamp on the outbreak.
Boss David Hopkin told the Post: “It’s an extremely challenging situation at the moment.
“We had to travel to Inverness without the three lads who’d tested positive plus Paddy Reading who was isolating as a close contact.
“Then on Monday we had another two return positive tests, so the squad is now down to nothing.
“At this stage all you can do is take things a day at a time but it’s a very difficult environment in which to prepare a team.
“We couldn’t train properly on Thursday and Friday before Inverness because of the situation – all we could do was box to box runs and we couldn’t work on shape or set pieces.
“Given all that, I thought we went up there and competed really well and the fans who travelled were magnificent.
“The ovation they gave the players at the end showed what they thought of the effort that had gone in.”
Ayr’s SPFL Trust Trophy clash against Rangers Colts at Dumbarton has been switched to Tuesday, September 14.