Youth Players Charge In

In a time when clubs are struggling with debt and lack of support, they look towards their youth set up for a helping hand in terms of personnel;This season so far has seen Ayr United Football Academy show the best of the rest how it's done by supplying a countless amount of young stars to the Ayr United senior squad.

Both Gareth Armstrong and Roddy Paterson have been regular feature's in the past few matches and rightly so after viewing them up against some older, wiser professional footballers.

With a man of the man performance from Gareth in the game against Raith Rovers in the Ramsden Cup match at Cappielow to Roddy's opening goal in the same match, it has been an never ending story for these two players in the opening fixtures and one they are unwilling to let end as they continue to push for further starting opportunities in Brian Reid's side.

Both guys have taken their senior call ups in their stride and sometimes it takes a fortuitous event to help the career of some young player's as they strive for the break they deserve. For Gareth that fortune came at the expense of Eddie Malone being injured in Ayr's first league match against title tipped Hamilton, when the defender got himself injured, opening the door for the 17 year old to play most of the match and the rest they say is history.

Since that day, he has been outstanding in the defensive lineup alongside veteran players John Robertson and Martyn Campbell and has never stepped out
of place in the matches that he has started in;Indeed, he managed a man of the man achievement from sponsors Ramsdens when the Ayr side met Raith Rovers at Cappielow last week showing his maturity beyond his tender years. He also managed an assist for goalscoring machine Roddy Paterson in the same match.

Roddy himself flirted with the senior side last season but after scoring 35 goals for the under 19's and Reserve team in all matches last term, Brian Reid had no other option to allow the 19 year old some more senior game time to see if he had what it took to succeed at this level.

The Maybole man has not disappointed!

With early pre season goals for Ayr most notably against SPL side St Mirren, Roddy took his chance of a starting position in the Raith Rovers match in his stride and opened the scoring that night with a delightful side footed swerve from around 18 yards round the keeper and into the net. Although his celebrations weren't of the St Mirren style that everyone had expected, the joy of this goal was apparent to all who managed the trip to Greenock that night.

This goal opened the way for Ayr to go on to a glorious performance that night and had it not been for fellow AUFA player Gareth earning his MOM, Roddy would surely have been next in line for it for a hard worked shift up front.

Ex Academy graduate Ross Robertson must also be given some credit for continuing to push forward for a starting berth and has continually shown his metal whenever required to do so.

His starting spot in the Raith match was just reward for all his hard work this season with his eventual magnificent goal in the same match surely being up for goal of the month when the SFL look through their archives. It's easy to forget that Ross is still only 20 years old and has many bright years of football ahead of him.

With these three players at the very least, Ayr United Football Academy can look to the future of AUFC like a proud father in the knowledge that we created them!

Fixtures

This weekend sees the return to competitive action for the AUFA teams, with age groups from 13's to 19's taking to the field for the new season.

If you are out and about, get yourself along to one of the matches and see if you can spot the next big thing to emerge from the conveyor belt of players that keeps being churned out by the excellent coaching staff within the Academy.

Sunday 21st August 2011

13's v Dundee, Prestwick Academy 11am
14's v East Fife, Rosyth Civil Service 2pm
15's v East Fife, Rosyth Civil Service 2pm
16's v East Fife, Prestwick Academy 1pm
19's v Arbroath, Prestwick Academy 3.15pm

Sponsorships

AUFA are still looking for player sponsorships and at £75 for the season, it's a worthwhile investment for you, your family or your business as well as for the future of Ayr United. As the AUFA is a registered charity all proceed go directly to the Talented Young Players Programme within the Academy and you can rest assured that this donation gets put to best use in furthering the skills, coaching and development of the players themselves.

For further details contact marc.roseblade@aufa.org.uk, visit the AUFA website or see us for details on Facebook.