14's Cruise to Victory

With a tough tie against a strong Arbroath side looming, the Academy 14's were looking to pick up where they left off last week with a cracking match  on a crisp playing surface at links park. 


Ayr started slowly with the tempo and passing not really coming together with Arbroath squeezing up and putting good pressure on the Ayr boys. Arbroath created the first chance of the game with a nice move around the box that fell to their number 6 who unleashed a 20 yard shot only for a brilliant stop from Lewis Murdoch to tip it away from goal.

This woke Ayr up and the short sharp passing starting coming together with some nice triangle passages of play. The tempo picked up and made for some excellent watching.

Blaine Swift and Aiden Connor were combining well down the left, getting balls into the box and causing some trouble within the Arbroath defence. On 34 minutes Ayr took the lead with a quick pass from Recce Lapham to Blaine Swift who drove forward, driving past two opponents before playing a lovely through pass to Sean Mckenzie who timed his run well beating the offside trap before placing the ball past the goalkeeper to give his side the lead. 

Ayr then quickly doubled their lead on 38 minutes with a good move down the left when a through ball to Ryan Wilson couldn’t be controlled and was cleared but only into Donnie Campbell's path who took a good first touch to set himself up before striking the ball from 25 yards which looped over the goalkeeper into the top off the net to finish the first period off in Ayr's favour.


The second period started with Ayr coming out the traps and got their passing game started straight away. Their one touch passing and movement was a joy to watch and the Arbroath players were starting to get a bit tired after constantly chasing the ball.

The passing and movement soon paid off when Ayr added another goal. Sean Robinson found Recce Lapham with a strong pass who in turn moved it onto Sean Mckenzie who had pulled away from his marker, McKenzie flicked the ball into Ryan Wilsons path who did well to beat the offside trap and tucked the ball into the corner of the net with the help of the inside of the post.


The pressure continued from Ayr who were starting to get the ball wide and cross the ball into the box with increasing frequency. This style paid off with a few corners and the delivery from the wide boys, especially Aiden Connor and Donnie Campbell led to yet another goal for Ayr after a  good delivery caused trouble when a crossed ball was only cleared as far as Declan Adams who moved onto it with a good first touch and showed some good technique to plant the ball into the top left hand corner from 20 yards.

Ayr created a number of chances before the end and if Ryan Wilson, Sean Mckenzie and Donnie Campbell had a bit more luck the scoreline could have been higher.

This was a good performance from the boys who showed some good high intensity and tempo in the game and all did their individual jobs very well. The defence was very compact and the communication throughout was very good.