No fairy- tale ending for Pollok as Dempsey strike sends Ayr through
SPARE a thought for Pollok, whose place on the Monday night slot may just have meant the Scottish Cup genie had no shocks left to give. The West of Scotland League hopefuls spent their weekend watching a trio of Drumchapel United, Darvel and the University of Stirling have their third- round upset wishes granted but were unable to conjure up a fairytale of their own.
The ingredients were all there. New manager Stuart Maxwell’s first match in charge and an evening under the lights at Somerset Park, one of Scottish football’s last great traditional grounds. Ayr United, sitting top of the Championship, will have been acutely aware the BBC cameras do not descend on such occasions in hope of a comfortable win for the favourites.
But that’s pretty much what they delivered, earning a trip to Cove Rangers for their troubles, in a cup tie that never really sparked into life. Ben Dempsey’s early second- half goal was a deserved one, if not what the night needed for an injection of drama.
“It wasn’t anything we didn’t expect,” said Bullen. “Stewart will be proud of his players they stuck at it the whole game,
“Other than the first 15, 20 minutes I felt we controlled the game, especially in then second half.
“But at 1- 0 it only takes one mistake or one slip and they are right back in the game.
“The first 15- 20 minutes they came out firing and Aidan has made a great save and he’s had things flash across the six- yard box.
“But I said beforehand they are a part- time team and will come out and give it everything. It’s a great game for them.
“I was hoping to get one or two younger guys on but credit to Pollok. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy after watching them play Annan in the last round. They have good players who have played at a high level and know how to play the game properly.
“They have a new manager they are trying to impress.
“So it was all about trying to get into the next round.”
Pollok will have arrived in Ayrshire in the knowledge that although the underdog had very much been having its day, theirs was arguably the toughest assignment of all their non- league contemporaries, given Ayr’s position.
The chasm in league places, however, was not at all apparent in the early exchanges. A neat exchange between Johnathan Lyon and Sean Burns set Darren Christie racing through midfield, but he was just unable to apply enough shape to his shot and Jordan Longmuir got down to gather.
Stuart McCann then flashed a header wide, offering yet more encouraging to the Southsiders’ travelling support. It served to give Ayr somewhat of a jolt.
Ben Dempsey, cutting back onto his right foot and aiming for the top corner, gave Pollok keeper Jordan Longmuir his first test of the evening, one he stood up to.
The Honest Men sought to get Logan Chalmers on the ball as regularly as possible, and he twice cut in off the left to power an effort at Longmuir.
Chalmers is all poise and technique but it was very nearly Dipo Akinyimi’s toe poke which found a way to goal, before Jayden MitchellLawson spurned a glorious chance from close range as the Pollok goal began to lead an increasingly charmed life.
It held out for little more than five minutes after the restart.
Jordan Houston’s cross found the advancing Dempsey and he slid in to apply the finish, a blow from which Pollok did not recover.
That’s not to say they chucked it, and Scott Rumsby very nearly set the evening alight with a set- piece header Aidan McAdams was forced to tip over.
Ayr, without really pressing home their advantage, went mostly untroubled in a largely uneventful second period. Given what transpired up and down the country at the weekend, they’ll have been absolutely content with uneventful.
“I thought we were excellent,” said Lok manager Maxwell.
“I expected us to feel ourselves into the game but we started on the front foot and were the better team in the first 15, 20 minutes. But I also expected them to come into the game, they’re a good side.
“They might have gone in at halftime thinking ‘ we might need to re- evaluate a wee bit, this is a tougher game than we’d imagined’.
“You look at the goal and it’s our worst bit of defending the whole night and I’m being hypercritical.
“The boys have done themselves really proud.”