With the photographers flashbulbs and near 500 crowd cheering them on, the importance of this match to the young AUFA players suddenly sunk home as they realised what it meant to the Academy followers.
Rangers certainly started the better of the two teams and took the lead after only 7 minutes with a cracking shot from 20 yards out that nestled in the net behind Ayr goalkeeper Darryl Jones. Not exactly the start the players had wanted an it took a further 10 minutes before Ayr were to make any impact on the Rangers defensive backline.
Dale Moore was unlucky when his well struck shot from 18 yards out, took a deflection, taking the sting out the ball as it headed goalwards. Moore knew this opportunity had slipped past as his disappointment was clear as he held his head in his hands.
Despite the eventual scoreline, Ayr keeper Jones was to have an some inspiration saves during the 90 minutes, the first of which came after 20 minutes of play. From just outside the box, the Rangers number 11 was to curl in a Yuri Gellar style freekick round the defensive wall only for Jones to pounce to his left, clearing the ball one handed to safety.
It was on 22 minutes though that Ayr were to drag themselves back into the match. A corner was whipped in with pace in the Gers danger area which Ian Aitken met with a shot which was cleared but only as far as Sean Kelly on the edge of the 'D', who fired in an unstoppable effort to make it 1-1 and showed Ayr's intent on bringing the game to Rangers.
Some 6 minutes later Ayr were to take the lead.
In a piece of pinball action around the penalty spot of Rangers box, the ball broke right to Aitken who turned his defender, making a bit of space for himself, and fired a daisycutter of a strike into bottom corner of the goal to give side a 2-1 lead .
However this lead was only to last 3 minutes as a mix up in defence led to a sliced shot from the Rangers attacker that seemed to squirm its way past a sprawling Jones on the 6 yard line. This goal was to lift the Rangers team and they dominated the rest of the first half.
Jones was again called to make a spectacular save when a corner was dropped over the top of everyone in the penalty area and although unsighted, Jones managed to drop on the ball like a bag of cement before it trickled into the goal at the last second.
Ayr were really playing backs to the wall stuff, protecting their goalie from an onslaught of Rangers attacks and were limiting the strike force to long range efforts but the Ayr defensive wall was breached right on the half time whistle. A perfectly struck shot from the corner of the box whizzed through the air like a scud missile into the top far corner of the net giving Jones no chance of saving it and gave the visitors a 3-2 lead to take into the second period of play.
The second half was never going to be as exciting as this first and although there were three goals still to come, as far as chances were concerned, there were never going to be the barrel load that were produced in the first half.
Moore had a penalty claim waved away shortly into the second half which could have equalized the match had it been scored and a minute later a perfectly placed pass was played into the path of the ever busy Roddy Paterson who had ran through from the half way line to meet the ball but his angle was closed down by the out rushing Rangers keeper and Patersons shot went agonisingly close but scuttled past the post much to the relief of Gers coach, Billy Kirkwood.
Jones in the Ayr goal was called into action another couple of times in the next few minutes, firstly saving bravely at the feet of an attacker then saving with a peter the cat like agility dive to keep the score as it was.
However the pressure was telling on the Ayr players as they started playing slightly deeper and their full time opponents fitness was starting to tell on the home side.
Ayr made a couple of changes in the hope to brightening things up in the middle with Robbie Crawford and Cammy Marlow coming off, Stuart Milligan and Darren Baird coming on to replace them. Before they could get a touch of the ball though, Rangers were to go 4-2 in front.
Another well struck effort was parried by Ayr goalie only for it to land at the feet of another of his opponents feet who drove home a thunderbolt that Jones could only deflect into the top of the net. The keeper was unlucky to lose this goal after such an outstanding string of saves and with this goal came a slight resignation that the game was lost as it would be difficult to score another three goals against a team the calibre of Rangers.
The Ayr boys kept plugging away, never losing the belief that they could score but time was running out for them to salvage this match.
With 20 minutes remaining, Ayr's final throw of the dice was made with Lee Lockhart replacing Ayr's second goal scorer, Ian Aitken.
The game was soon to come to an end with another two goals for the Glasgow giants, first from a deflected header and the sixth and final goal coming in stoppage time at the end with a curling effort round the out rushing Jones.
Ayr were to get a couple of chances near the end from Paterson and Lockhart but neither bulged the net and with this came the end of the match.
It was always going to be a tough ask to defeat a performance level side at this stage of the competition, let alone that it was against Rangers. The Ayr players performed admirably throughout this match, never giving up even when it looked impossible to draw any hope from it. Its a tremendous achievement for the Academy that after last years 2nd round exit, that they reached this stage of the event.
The emotionally drained Ayr coach Stephen McMillan said afterwards, "We are really disappointed today, I thought first half we competed very well, to lose the goal right before half time was a real blow for us. I think in the end trying to get back into the game and Rangers superior fitness due to full time training showed."
"6-2 flattered Rangers I thought but this was a good experience for the boys and they can be proud of their effort and commitment."
Final score from Somerset Park
Ayr United 2 Rangers 6
by Marc Roseblade
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