17s v motherwell

On July 30th at Carrick Academy in Maybole, the Under 17 side faced up against SPL opposition, Motherwell.

The 17s never looked like they were out of their depth against Well who play in the SPL youth development league and it didn't take long for the Ayr lads to take the lead with Cammy Barr scoring an absolute screamer from the edge of the box with a curling effort into the right hand side of the goal, giving the Well keeper no chance of saving it. Cammy gave us his normal caterpillar goal celebration.

Minutes later Ayr's goalkeeper was called into action when he was required to save a penalty to keep his side in the lead and he dutifully done so before clearing the ball to safety.

The Ayr boys were relishing playing against superior opposition and Declan Milligan and Mark Shankland were running the Motherwell Defence ragged with the right hand side of the field producing many efforts at goal for the Ayr side.

First Mark Shankland tried to chip the goalie, then he tried blasting it past him but the keeper stood firm. The Ayr team weren't getting it all their own way though as a dangerous looking Motherwell side were fast on the break and not scared to pass the ball around. As the match approached half time Ayr's defence were put under more pressure but some good goalkeeping and fine defensive tackles by Cammy Marlow kept the Ayr team in it.

The Ayr team were managing to keep their composure in the face of attack after attack but even in light of this, they were still not afraid to pass the ball out of danger. Mark Shankland and Declan Milligan were running the flanks perfectly and created another couple of chance right before half time but firstly the keepers legs saved the day, then a magnificent effort by Declan Milligan just floated over the bar when the keeper was stranded on the 6 yard line.

The Ayr boys came out in the second half with the same attitude they had in the first and Jack McClymont soon offered another chance for the home side when he whipped in a cross from the left but it was just out of reach of the onrushing attackers.

Robbie Crawford was next with a couple of efforts from 20 yards in quick succession but the keeper was equal to both. Declan Milligan was again running riot down the left wing and put another nice cross in for Mark Shankland but his shot was fired straight at the keeper. Adam Forsyth was next to benefit from young wing wizard Milligan's streaking runs down the flank but once again the goalie was in the right place to stop the effort.

Just before the end Mark Shankland had a thunderbolt parried by the keeper with Declan Milligan firing just over with the rebound.

Manager Allan Paul was clearly enthused about the performance stating "The boys passing was superb tonight and had loads of chances to win this match against superior opposition, many times over. This was a great run out against an SPL outfit and sets us up nicely for the start of the Pro Youth League in a couple of weeks."