Ayr late show leaves fate in their own hands
United can seal Championship status with a victory
QUEEN OF THE SOUTH .............. 1 AYR UNITED .................................. 1 Kerr McInroy insists nobody was stealing his moment of glory at Palmerston after the late goal which edged Ayr towards safety.
The midfielder’s strike, which took a wicked deflection off Queens scorer Euan East, was credited as an own goal as United salvaged a draw.
But McInroy was having none of it – and is now backing Ayr to seal their Championship survival on Friday night.
He smiled: “It was a big goal and I’m claiming it as it was on target!
“My heart sunk when they scored so near the end but since I’ve been here, we’ve managed to score a lot of late goals and always keep going to the end.
“We know we’ve got the character to come back and thankfully managed to do it again.
“But we can’t keep repeating the same mistakes next week and keep missing chances.
“It’s not like it’s the same person all the time either. We’re creating good opportunities all over.
“Hopefully, we can work on the finishing in training this week and not worry about it come Friday night.”
Ayr know a win at home to Partick Thistle will secure their Championship status for another season.
And McInroy said: “It’s back in our hands and that’s the main thing.
“We know exactly what we need to do and we’re fully focused on that now.”
Ayr looked like living to regret more missed chances as they failed to make the most of a fast start against Queens.
Sam Ashford missed two golden chances in the opening 10 minutes as they started on fire.
But Queens grew into the contest and as the game edged on, both sides threw everything at a winner.
Ruari Paton fired inches wide for the Doonhamers before Tomi
Adeloye rattled the bar for Ayr.
Paton then smashed the paint at the other end before the hosts took the lead through Euan East.
But Ayr were quickly back on level terms through McInroy’s deflected strike and could have won it at the death as sub Mark McKenzie headed off the post.
QOS: Rae, Gibson, O’Connor, East, Cooper, Connelly, Cochrane (Gordon 65), McGrory (Foralin 88), Todd, Cameron, Soares Junior (Paton 57).
AYR: McAdams, Muirhead, Baird, McGinty, Reading; O’Connor (Gondoh 84), Murdoch (Smith 84), McInroy, Maxwell (McKenzie 69), Adeloye, Ashford (Bryden 61).
Referee: Willie Collum; Crowd: 2271.