Ayr fought the law – and the lawyer won!
AUCHINLECK TALBOT 1 MCCRACKEN (78) AYR UNITED 0
Tommy Sloan saluted Auchinleck Talbot for creating one of the biggest shocks in Scottish Cup history.
And fittingly it was two ex-ayr United men who combined to send the Championship high flyers reeling before a sell-out crowd at a bouncing Beechwood Park.
Sub Mark Shankland, who made his Ayr debut at only 15 before a contract wrangle saw him join Talbot as an amateur, came off the bench to fire over a pin-point free-kick which Craig Mccracken – once an Honest Man, now a trainee lawyer –headed home.
It sparked wild scenes all over the village, and Talbot boss Sloan, who has won six Scottish Junior Cups in 15 years at the club, admitted: “This is our biggestever result and massive for the club. “We changed it around today because we were playing against a better side. We didn’t really want to go toe-to-toe with Ayr for 90 minutes.
“It was always the plan to hopefully stay in the game and bring on a few subs in the last bit of the match.
“It had a good effect and we actually finished quite fresh. Ayr looked a wee bit ragged at the end. Great performance and the lads take a lot of credit.”
Sloan, who spent three years at Ayr in the 1980s before being freed by Ally Macleod, added: “It’s a great scalp and great for the profile of our club and it raises that.
“We’ve always been there or thereabouts in the big Junior competitions but this is something else.
“We love our involvement in this cup and can’t wait for the draw. I’m not into the Old Firm and all that, it’s not for me. It’s only the committee that wants that.
“Craig has scored a lot of important goals playing at centre-half so a lot of credit goes to him.
“The incentive really showed today because every one of them was really up for it.
“I thought we actually had the better chances. We’ve done Junior football proud – I got a lot of well-wishers from other clubs and all our main rivals which was great.
“Can we keep it going? The luck of the draw, you never know.
“The boys can celebrate how they like tonight. Hopefully, we can all enjoy it.”
Shell-shocked Ayr boss Ian Mccall admitted the day belonged to Talbot.
He said: “I don’t want to say it’s the worst result of my playing or managerial career as that would take away from Auchinleck. They deserved to win. “The game panned out the way they wanted. We had two or three good chances but just couldn’t score.
“The players have had constant praise for 18 months.
“You’ve got to pick yourself up, that’s what football is. We’ve got a big game against Dundee United on Friday.”
Mccall felt Ayr were denied a penalty for handball but refused to use that as an excuse.
He said: “That would take away from Auchinleck who I wish all the best and good luck.
“This had nothing to do with us being without Lawrence Shankland. Our players had more than enough about them.”
Talbot started with four ex-ayr players and another two on the bench. They soaked up Ayr’s early pressure while trying to counter on the break.
And it almost paid off after 27 minutes when Graham Wilson lashed home a Gordon Pope freekick that sparked confusion in the box but the linesman’s flag killed their joy.
Michael Moffat and Robbie Crawford went closest for Ayr.
The second-half was helter skelter but it was Talbot who dealt the killer blow in 78 minutes when Mccracken pounced for a goal he will never forget.
Ayr threw on Stevie Bell as an emergency striker but not even four minutes of stoppage time could save them.