Rover the moon... but boss keeps his Ayr force grounded
Free-flowing United boost boss but Bully won’t get carried away
Lee Bullen hailed his free flowing Ayr troops as they dished out a thrashing on the road at Raith.
United racked up their third away win on the trot as they put sorry Rovers to the sword in Kirkcaldy.
A James Maxwell double and strikes from Tomi Adeloye and Sam Ashford capped a wonderful display from Bullen’s men.
But the head coach insisted his men won’t be letting the result – or performance – go to their heads in the build up to this week’s Ayrshire derby.
He said: “We were at it from the start and deserved every bit of that result.
“We’ll enjoy this but won’t be getting ahead of ourselves.
“You can’t allow yourself to think you’re better than you are – so our feet are firmly planted as we look ahead.
“You see with the results that the league remains so tight and there are still eight huge games to go.
“But this is the perfect platform to go into next week and a big game on Friday night.”
Bullen went with two up top as Ashford and Adeloye were unleashed as a double act to great effect.
But United also shone defensively, notching their first clean sheet since January 8.
The boss said: “I was delighted for Aidan (McAdams) to get that today as his performances of late have really deserved it.
“Personally I thought Jordan
Houston was the best player on the pitch – he was absolutely magnificent.
“And the one boy I’m really, really pleased for today is big Markus Fjortoft.
“He’s dropped down the order of late but his professionalism and attitude in training has been second to none.
“Every single day he has been the one who’s had an opportunity to come and knock on my door.
“He came on at half time today and put in a tremendous performance and that’s because he trains like an absolute Trojan and I’m thrilled for him.”
Adeloye and the returning Andy Murdoch were Ayr’s two changes from the side which lost to Queen of the South last week – but there was never a danger of a repeat here.
They set the tone early on with the opener in just the third minute when Ashford did well to hit the byline and his cutback was slammed into the roof of the net by Adeloye.
Ayr took real control of the midfield and were swarming forward at every opportunity in a fantastic first half performance.
Adeloye went close to doubling the lead with a header which flashed just wide from Houston’s cross. But they did get the second goal their pressure deserved when Maxwell latched on to an Ashford ball to slot past Jamie MacDonald.
It was 3-0 before half time when
good work from McKenzie teed up Maxwell again to steal in at the near post for a deft finish.
Fjortoft replaced Sean McGinty at the break after the skipper had felt his hamstring tighten, but by that time it was well and truly game over.
And United were able to see it out in the second half with a professional performance, which had extra gloss added with Ashford adding a fourth.
He collected a through ball from Houston inside the box and slotted past MacDonald to complete a brilliant afternoon for Ayr.
RAITH: MacDonald,Tumilty, Benedictus, Berra, Dick (Mackie 39), Williamson (Arnott 63), Matthews, Stanton, Connolly (Gullan 46), Poplatnik (Varian 63), Ross.
AYR UNITED: McAdams, Houston, Muirhead, McGinty (Fjortoft 46), Reading; McKenzie (O’Connor 83), Murdoch (Smith 78), McInroy, Maxwell (Gondoh 83), Adeloye (Moffat 78), Ashford.
Ref: Don Robertson. Crowd: 1,513