Shanks shin es to heap misery on Tangerines
ayr united 2 dundee united 0
Ayr stay two points clear at the top of the Championship after goals from Lawrence Shankland and Declan McDaid added to Dundee United’s sorrows. It was another miserable afternoon for the toiling Tangerines and although interim boss Laurie Ellis sparked an improvement, it was nowhere near good enough to unsettle Ayr. The Arabs will this week step up their search for a replacement to Csaba Laszlo but the hopes of Ellis were surely not helped by this defeat. Ellis claimed: “The players have been magnificent and worked really hard this week in a difficult period. This is a group of players who really want to get back playing to a better standard and winning games. “I am really disappointed and I wanted them to be rewarded for a tough week. “Fraser Fyvie and Billy King both came in, probably ahead of schedule, but they were desperate to play and there was no gun to their head,” Ellis stamped his mark by making five changes from the team humbled 5-1 by Ross County which spelled the end of Laszlo’s reign. Matej Rakovan, who had a game he will want for forget, was demoted to the bench with Benjamin Siegrist handed the gloves for his league debut. The visitors were almost gifted an early chance when Ross Doohan was careless with a pass to Daniel Harvie. Matthew Smith pounced and sped forward but his cross into the box was cut out by Steven Bell at full stretch. Ayr should have been ahead after nine minutes when Alan Forrest cut in from the left and fired over an inviting cross which fell at the feet of Shankland. But the normally reliable striker couldn’t get his shot away to let the Tangerines defence breathe again. Doohan came to Ayr’s rescue when he dived to cut out a dangerous low, driven cross by Pavol Safranko who had been set free by skipper Fraser Fyvie. Ayr got their noses in front after 21 minutes and it was no surprise that Shankland was the marksman. Michael Moffat did the spadework and Shankland ran on to plant a low shot beyond Siegrist. Shankland then showed deft skill on the ball to ping over a cross which was just too high for the inrushing Andy Geggan. United were fighting hard for everything and a clever flick from Sanfranko produced a superb reflex save
from Doohan before Christoph Rabitsch fired into the side netting. Frederic Frans had a header from a Fyvie cross saved seconds after the restart as the action flowed from end to end. Shankland worked a 1-2 with Moffat but was foiled at the feet of Siegrist. Then Moffat wriggled his way into the box but was crowded out at the final hurdle. Ayr gave themselves breathing space with 17 minutes left when Andy Murdoch turned the ball across goal for sub McDaid to volley home. Happy Somerset boss Ian McCall claimed: “It should have been a lot more comfortable than it was. “Although at times we played well, we can play a lot better than that but to get the win was the main thing. “When you compare the infrastructure of both clubs, I’m not sure we should be that far ahead of Dundee United – the next time, it might not be, but that’s football. “It’s a great three points and that’s six or seven games at Somerset we have won. “All our players have come through together and are hungry to do well. “Who would have thought that our next game against Ross County in two weeks will be a top of the Championship clash? “We’ll look forward to it.”