14s Roar at Livvy Lions

A brilliant encounter ensued at Prestwick Academy between two teams keen to play attacking, passing football whilst remaining strong defensively.

The Ayr United Football Academy players started strongly with a move that started with defender Reece Lapham moving the ball from inside his own half through to Roy Barr who ran into the middle of his opponents half playing in fellow striker, Sean McKenzie, meeting the ball on the penalty spot but was adjudged to be offside by the ref.

Livvy were a strong outfit and more than matched the Ayr side in the opening 30 minutes and had plenty of chances themselves to open the scoring;Their first opportunity came within five minutes as their strong number 11 managed to work his way down the right, past both Ayr's midfield and defence before lobbing the ball over the Ayr keeper but was beaten only by the crossbar.

Ayr striker Roy Barr then took it upon himself to run his way around seven players Messi style with the ball seemingly attached by velcro to his boot, unfortunately the keeper was the only Livingston player he couldn't get past.

Blane Swift and Aiden Connor were playing brilliantly down the flanks, pinging passes crossfield with stunning accuracy while Declan Adam was controlling the midfield for the Ayr side but both sides went into the end of the first break goalless.

Livvy started the second period the stronger and it didn't take long for the deadlock to be broken with a good piece of play from the visitors down the right that ended with a lucky break of the ball right at the attackers feet who scored from 15 yards out.

Livingston's number 11 was causing havoc in the Ayr defence every time he broke forward, he was big, strong, fast and very confident when on the ball, clearly Livvy's man of the match.

Barr and McKenzie were trying their best for the home side, constantly prodding and probing the Livingston defence looking for an opening and that chink in the armour was found midway through the 2nd period when a long clear out by Ayr's keeper was cleverly controlled by Adam who played an inch perfect pass into the box for McKenzie to bullet his effort past the keeper and score his first of the day.

Ayr had a few more chances to score again, the first of which was through Aiden Connor, whose free kick curled beautifully over the defensive wall only for the keeper to tip it round the post. McKenzie stole the ball on 30 yards, dribbled past two defenders before letting loose a thunderbolt but the goalie was well placed to save. Ryan Wilson also tried his luck with some excellent play down the right, ducking and diving, bobbing and weaving his way past numerous players but again, the keeper done his job, keeping the ball from hitting the back of the net.

Against this backdrop of pressure, Livingston stung back with a tremendous counter attack, ending with a magnificent strike that lobbed over the Ayr keepers head and despite getting a strong hand to it, couldn't keep it from landing in the back of the net.

Lewis McMurdo who had came on for the second 45 in place of fellow goalkeeping teammate Sean Robinson, made an absolutely outstanding save from a 25 yard thunderbolt, connecting with enough glove to deflect the ball onto the bar before getting back on his feet to catch the rebound that drew applause from everyone in the Prestwick Academy arena.

The teams entered into the third period with praise from the coaches ringing in their ears, asking for more of the same and it didn't take long for the back of the net to bulge again, this time for the home side.

In a lovely piece of wing play from Wilson, he managed to play the ball into McKenzie who took the ball masterfully round the keeper to pass the ball into the net to equalize the result.

Only a few minutes later Adam tried his hand at getting on the scoresheet but his shot was deflected to Ayr's trialist who done himself no harm by hitting the back of the net for another Ayr goal.

This match was really turning into a cracking contest as it moved into the last 15 with Ayr's Sean McKenzie adding his third for the day after earning a free kick just outside the box which he converted direct with a simply stunning effort that was impossible to stop by the visiting goalie.

Ayr were pressing hard creating many more chances before the end.

McKenzie turned supplier to Wilson a couple of times with the opportunities missing the target on both occasions but the striker showed his team mate how to finish when he added another with a 100mph strike that was simply unstoppable into the top right hand corner of the goal.

Right at the death, captain Reece Lapham was to get himself on the score sheet for the home team when an excellently executed corner from Jordan Bruce was met on the penalty spot by the captain to fire in the eighth goal of the match.

Ayr Coach Gary Gibb said afterwards, "We had a great response from the players after a strangely muted first 45 minutes. The guys weren't at their best at that point but more than made up for it in the second 45. We know have two games left before the winter break, both away from home."

Fellow coach Stuart Brady was full of praise for both sets of player saying,"Livingston have a real good team, especially their number 11 who was a constant thorn in our side every time he received the ball. But our players showed belief in themselves, belief in the quality they have to be able to pick themselves up from a bad start and finish in top gear."

by Marc Roseblade