THE JOY OF SIX
Craig Ritchie Star Saint: Stevie Mallan The midfielder looked high in confidence following his Scotland debut in midweek. He simply ran the show from the middle of the park and took his goal in sublime fashion to open the scoring.
And their confidence was warranted as MacKenzie doubled the lead with a towering header from another Mallan free-kick with just 20 minutes played, despite it looking like the referee was going to blow for a foul on the defender.
But there was to be no stopping Saints and skipper McGinn quickly made it 3-0 with a tap-in after Stelios Demetriou outfoxed Alan Forrest with a mazy run down the right flank, before cutting across the face of goal, where the skipper obliged with the finish at the back post.
The Cypriot full back showcased a return to form having been out of the side for the last few outings.
St Mirren were cruise control as Ayr simply struggled to compete with the Paisley side.
And it could have been much worse had Mallan found the required finish after jinking clear of two markers on the edge of the box before narrowly firing wide of the target.
The tie had already descended into something of a rout but Magennis put the shine on an outstanding first-half performance as he coolly rounded Ayr keeper Greg Fleming before slotting into the empty net from a seemingly impossible angle near the byline. Match Facts
- St Mirren 6 Ayr United 2 - Mallan, MacKenzie, McGinn, Magennis, Morgan, Smith, Cairney, El Alagui - MacKenzie (56) Gilmour (40), Rose (43), Boyle (76), El Alagui (84). - No-one - Gavin Duncan - 4,620 O’Brien, Demetriou, Eckersley, Baird, MacKenzie (Webster 85), McGinn, Mallan (Todd 78), Magennis, Smith, Morgan (Sutton 67), Loy. Subs not used: Langfield, Gordon, Fjelde and Quinn. Fleming, Devlin, Boyle, Balatoni (McGuffie 24) Meggatt, Crawford (Wardrope 60), Rose, Forrest, Docherty, Gilmour (Cairney 45), El Alagui.
The visitors were fortunate to find themselves just four goals behind at the half-time interval, with ref Gavin Duncan’s whistle giving the travelling support respite from the demolition unfolding in front of their eyes.
But St Mirren clearly had no intention of taking their foot off of the gas, with Lewis Morgan firing home his side’s fifth of the afternoon with a neat finish from the edge of the box having been played through on goal by Rory Loy in 52 minutes.
Saints were later dealt a blow as Morgan was stretchered off following an innocuous looking challenge as the
Buddies again broke up the park.
Substitute Paul Cairney struck a consolation against his hometown side, to ironic cheers from the visiting support with 20 minutes remaining, before Farid El Alagui’s late header further reduced the deficit in the closing stages.
The late fight-back didn’t even muster any nerves from the home support who were delighted with the efforts their side had produced.
And it was the Paisley side who would have the final say as Cammy Smith rounded off the scoring late on as he prodded home after John Sutton’s header had cannoned back off of the post.