Hinchcliffe
Trialist Rowe Ritchie Florence
Brownlie Cargill Cusick McGlashan McInally
Bayne
Substitutes: Wight, Heenan, Swankie, Mercer, MacKay
Manager, John Brownlie, stuck by the same starting line-up which did so well in the early part of the previous match against Raith Rovers at Kircaldy. In 15 minutes a great ball from McGlashan to McInally saw him cut inside and win a corner for his efforts. From the corner the ball broke to Innes Ritchie, who with his back to goal, spun and hit a soft shot, which bounced and spun between the defender on the post and the keeper to score. The lead was short-lived however as Ayr equalised a minute later and then took the lead in 25 minutes when a cross from our left was nodded out and fell to an Ayr Utd player who hit a stunning shot into Hinchie’s top right corner. However Arbroath rallied inspired by some good play by Bayne. Brownlie was causing the Ayr defence all sorts of problems and from a foul against Paul a ball to the back post found Ritchie who scored.
Fifteen minutes into the second half saw some hard running from Bayne down the right saw the ball reach Cargill whose strike rebounded to McGlashan who tapped it home. Arbroath kept pressing forward came close on a number of occasions. Ayr took off a defender for a forward and went to three upfront and Arbroath finish the match on the defensive and Hinchie made a few excellent saves. Mercer almost added a fourth, when he collected a ball about 35 yards out, spun and struck an excellent ball over the keeper’s head and just over the bar.