ayr u19s v cumnock

Ayr United Youth Academy (AUFA) under 19 side were in action on Monday night in a tough tie against a physical Cumnock Juniors side.

Recently, some of the under 19s have been getting some playing time with the full Ayr United squad but tonight it was back to bread and butter football and the bruises that go along with playing against a junior football side.

Keeper Matthews in action

It took 30 minutes before Ayr goalkeeper Matthews was called on but he wasn't to get such an easy period of play again during a match that ended with 7 goals.

Cumnock managed their first goal of the match on 35 minutes with a low shot past an outstretched Matthews and the Ayr keeper was in action again on 42 minutes who tipped a shot wide from close range.

44 minutes had passed without much of a chance at goal for Ayr but McClelland was to help change that as he fired in a shot from the corner of the box which the Cumnock keeper parried but Roddy Paterson was there to shoot home the rebound to give Ayr an equalizer just before the half time whistle.

Unfortunately for McClelland he was injured in the previous charge on goal and was subbed just as half time hit us.

In the second half, Matthews once again had to be on his toes as only 3 minutes into the half, he tipped an 18 yard thunderbolt over the bar. However only 1 minute later, the Ayr keeper was beaten by a lob from 18 yards out from the right hand side of the box.

2 minutes later, Cumnock nearly added another when they hit the post but only 60 seconds later Ayr broke up the field and right wing substitute Kelly, who was outstanding in his time on the field, fired in from 10 yards out to make the score 2-2.

Kelly made a magnificent defensive tackle a few minutes later to save a sure goal and kept the scoreline as a draw at this point.

Although Cumnock were getting more opportunities at goal, the Ayr sides football was better and they were taking a bit of a battering from a big physical set of Cumnock player and the players were holding their nerve and temper in the face of some hefty challenges.

When it looked like the match was going to end as a draw, up popped the Junior side to lob another goal over the outrushing Ayr keeper with the Ayr defenders claiming an offside but the ref allowed the goal to give the East Ayrshire side the lead with 5 minutes to go.

It was a tough call for the under 19 side and 2 minutes later, Ayr lost another goal after some nice play down the left hand side before a strong shot hit the back of the net to give the Cumnock side a 4-2 lead and with seconds remaining of regulation time, Cumnock scored again to give them a 5-2 win.

Although the result didn't go the Ayr sides way, it was a good run out against a stronger, older, more experienced group of players and the under 19s will play worse than they did today and get wins so overall a good performance all round from Stephen McMillans side.

Team : Matthews, Fisher, McIntyre, Murdoch, Frame, Armstrong, Connolly, Milligan, Paterson, Baird, McClelland.
Subs : Jones (gk), Kelly, Moore, Nugent, Hendry