AND THEY'RE OFF!

Like the Gold Cup at Ayr Racecourse over the past weekend, they're off and running!

All the Ayr United Football Academy sides have been back in action for the past three weeks with some cracking results and performances being clocked in over the season so far which continues the excellent 2010-11 that finished before the summer.

The coach's and players have been going from strength to strength, building on last season's successes that were enjoyed by the girls sides and the under 17's title winning team.

This season saw a new addition to the setup with an under 13 team joining the others in the hope of coaching and developing an even younger set of players that can be brought through the ranks all with the ultimate goal of building a tremendous youth setup that can compete with the best in the country.

This addition brings the total of boys teams to six and with an average of 17 players per team, there is over 100 talented young players involved in the coaching and development setup at the moment.

YOUTH AT WORK

This weekends matches saw some tremendous displays by our teams.

The 19's side made the trip to Recreation Park for their match against Alloa and soon found themselves a goal down from a strange situation when Ayr United regular this season Gareth Armstrong, inadvertently turned the ball into his own goal but neither he or his teammates let this mishap drag them down and subsequently went on to dominate the rest of the match with some good possession and multiple chances at goal.

It was to be the two star strikers that were to do their job up front for the AUFA side with firstly Mark Shankland heading home to equalise before his partner Roddy Paterson added his first of the match for Ayr to take the lead.

Paterson was then to score a trademark goal when he met a brilliantly weighted ball from defender Armstrong, got himself in behind the defence before going one on one with the keeper, sliding it under the out rushing stopper to make the score 3-1 for his side.

Ayr's fourth goal was a tremendous move that was started by midfielder Robbie Crawford who himself was ultimately unlucky not to score when he saw his 30 yard thunderbolt strike the post. Paterson was quickest to react though and picked up the loose ball, chipped it to the back post for Shankland to head home adding his own second of the match and set up a race with Paterson for the first hat trick of the game.

However it was to be Alloa that struck next after some nice footwork by their attacker, slotting home to make the scoreline 2-4 but this was to prove a false dawn for the home side as a truly team effort involving Armstrong, Paterson, Crawford and Sean Kelly culminated in Scott Aitken scoring the seventh goal of the game, giving Ayr an unassailable 5-2 lead.

The scoring wasn't finished though and it was inevitable that one of the two main strike partners were to end the game with a hat trick with that merit going to 16 year old Shankland who scored with a truly superb strike from the edge of the box, with his left foot, that nestled into the top corner to round off a well deserved victory for the U19 side.

Roddy Paterson and Mark Shankland again proved they have the ability to score goals and to steal a punchline similar to the Kevin Costner movie 'Field of Dreams' where the immortal line 'Build it and they will come' was spoken, in the case of these two strikers it would read 'Play us and we will score' springs to mind!

17'S

This season's 17's side has a tough task of emulating last seasons Scottish Championship winning side looked to continue their good run of form by making it three wins out of three when they played host to Elgin City at a sunny Belmont Academy on Sunday.

Elgin's journey had started at 6.30am to meet the 1pm kick off and afterwards must have debated the effort and merits of such a long arduous journey after being on the end of such a terrible result as the home team ran out 11 - 1 winners.

The home side started at breakneck pace and from the first blast of the referee's whistle had Elgin fighting a rearguard action in an effort to keep at bay the rampant Ayr boys. They managed this for the first 15 minutes and even belied the eventual scoreline by surprisingly taking the lead with an unstoppable shot beyond keeper Bob McClatchie.

This perhaps surprised both sides into a reverse action as the home side controlled the remainder of the match with the Highland side somewhat shocked at leading the game at this stage and it even took until the 25th minute before an equalizer was forthcoming with Dillon Dunn slotting home, much to the relief of Academy coaches on the sidelines.

Dunn added to this relief by scoring another two goals in the next 10 minutes, rounding off his hat trick with some top notch finishing.

Just when it looked like the half would end with just a two goal lead, an incredible four minute spell leading to half time was to end Elgin's hopes of a recovery.

Up step Adam Fraser for the home side;A hat trick of goals on the 41st, 42nd and 45th minute stunned both sides to end what was a blistering first 45 minutes of play that was not to get any better in the second period for the visiting team.

6-1 was never going to be the final score at this rate and the scoreline was to increase within only two minutes of the restart when Sean Robertson slotted home from 20 yards out.

In all the flurry of goals, it seemed impossible to comprehend that there would be a 20 minute spell of non-goal scoring activity but that's what happened as the Elgin players regrouped and staged a highland version of the 'Alamo'. Much like Davy Crockett and the gang in Texas, this last stand was not to last through to the end of play as tiredness started to play a part in proceedings.

Man of the match Adam Fraser went on to complete a double hat trick of goals in the 67th, 71st and 76th minute to take the scoreline up to nine goals for the home side ending any small glimmer of hope the Elgin side had of recovering.

The earlier effort put in by both sides was starting to tell but not before Ayr added another couple from Andy McCormack and Chris Kelly to round off a well polished victory giving their side a 11-1 victory that can be cherished by all who witnessed it.

Credit has to go to the Elgin City players and coaching staff who, although under the cosh for the entire match they never, at any time, resorted to strong arm tactics. They battled hard throughout and played in the proper spirit right until the end.  Ayr United wish them well for the rest of the season.

SPONSORSHIPS

AUFA are still looking for player sponsorships and at £75 for the season, it's a 

worthwhile investment for you, your family or your business as well as for the future

of Ayr United. As the AUFA is a registered charity all proceed go directly to the 

Talented Young Players Programme within the Academy and you can rest assured 

that this donation gets put to best use in furthering the skills, coaching and 

development of the players themselves.

For further details contact marc.roseblade@aufa.org.uk, visit the AUFA website or 

see us on Facebook for more information.