As Canned Heat once said, we're on the road again. It's our third Championship away day on the trot as we head for Somerset Park to take on one of the early pacesetters in Ayr United. Our last two league games went well, but a drab Challenge Cup tortuous affair against Brechin City has taken the gloss of those league performances. Kick-off is at 3:00pm across the Championship this weekend and victory for Inverness on Saturday would put us level with the Honest Men on fourteen points. On the other hand, defeat would leave us trailing the leaders by six points.
Last league game for Inverness was a satisfying 2-3 win at Dens Park after coming from behind. Cammy Harper was the hero with a couple of sublime left foot strikes from distance and Billy Mckay from the spot just before the interval. Coming off the back of a 0-2 win at Starks Park, eyebrows were raised slightly, but a thoroughly deflating Challenge Cup draw with Brechin City has brought us back down to earth with a bang. Still, we did go through on penalties so that was a bonus.
Ayr United's last league game saw them lose 3-2 to Raith Rovers, going down to a late goal after Brad Young and Andy Murdoch had tied the score at two apiece. That was a disappointing result for Lee Bullen's men after they had just beaten Morton, Dundee and Cove Rangers in the previous three games. Last week Morton gained some revenge by knocking Ayr out of the Challenge cup after a 1-1 draw and a penalty shoot-out.
Latest Team News
We still have a handful of players out injured, mainly Sutherland, Walsh, Welsh, MacGregor, Samuels............ Max Ram returned against Brechin City and played for an hour, coming through unscathed but is not 100% fit. Four or five were also rested last week and I would expect to see Billy Mckay, Mark Ridgers and David Carson back in the starting XI.
Straight from the horses mouth, here's Billy 🦓
Eric has written a book about Ayr (also available in hardback😂)
Useless facts; of the Championship teams, Ayr United have the largest squad at 28, the lowest average age of 22.7 years and the highest percentage of foreign players 39.3% (11 players).
With manager Lee Bullen arriving halfway through last season there were, at my count, 33 players that went through the books as he sought to avoid the relegation zone. Who knew
The last tranche of players to leave Somerset Park were.
Mateusz Miller a young keeper has joined East Kilbride reserves.
From the backs gone are Jack Baird off to Morton, Aaron Muirhead on a free to Partick, James Maxwell loan period from Rangers concluded and Blaine Rowe another loan player returned to parent club Coventry City.
Midfield player Alex Kenyon is now with Chester FC and Kerr McInroy back to Celtic after loan.
Front man Tomi Adeloye departed to Swindon Town and left winger Ryan Gondoh is now at Sevenoaks FC.
Drafted into the Ayr squad at the start of this season:
A pair of centre backs, Frankie Musonda who was at Raith Rovers the last couple of seasons and Alex Kirk on loan from Arsenal U21, he was also in youth and U18 squads.
In the middle of the park there are a number of additions.
David Bangala defensive midfield arrives from Latvian side FK Pohronie, spent formative years with French sides.
Central midfielder Ben Dempsey has made his move to Ayr after a short loan there last season.
Carter Jenkins has been promoted to the first team squad from the U18 set up, another defensive midfielder.
Josh Mullin is on loan from Livingston and was at Hamilton last season.
Attacking midfield player Jayden Mitchell-Lawson signed from Swindon Town was a product of the Derby youth system.
On the right-wing Dario Viviani is another player stepping up from Ayr U18s.
Dipo Akinyemi is a centre forward brought in from Welling United, he is a man of many clubs in the National League South, 6th tier of English football.
Having come through the Aston Villa youth teams Brad Young is a centre forward on loan for the season.
On the road again
As Canned Heat once said, we're on the road again. It's our third Championship away day on the trot as we head for Somerset Park to take on one of the early pacesetters in Ayr United. Our last two league games went well, but a drab Challenge Cup tortuous affair against Brechin City has taken the gloss of those league performances. Kick-off is at 3:00pm across the Championship this weekend and victory for Inverness on Saturday would put us level with the Honest Men on fourteen points. On the other hand, defeat would leave us trailing the leaders by six points.
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MATCH/TICKET INFO
SUPPORTERS BUS 07462 218717 £20
2 - 2
(A)
1 - 2
(H)
2 - 2
(A)
1 - 0
(H)
2 - 2
(H)
2 - 0
(A)
1 - 1
(H)
0 - 1
(A)
2 - 0
(H)
2 - 0
(A)
Fairly even last season but our overall Head2Head v Ayr shows that we hold the Indian sign over them, although it's much closer at Somerset Park.
SATURDAY 1ST OCTOBER
Ayr United v Inverness
Cove v Arbroath
Accies v Dundee
Partick v Morton
Queens v Rovers
Last Time Out
Last league game for Inverness was a satisfying 2-3 win at Dens Park after coming from behind. Cammy Harper was the hero with a couple of sublime left foot strikes from distance and Billy Mckay from the spot just before the interval. Coming off the back of a 0-2 win at Starks Park, eyebrows were raised slightly, but a thoroughly deflating Challenge Cup draw with Brechin City has brought us back down to earth with a bang. Still, we did go through on penalties so that was a bonus.
Ayr United's last league game saw them lose 3-2 to Raith Rovers, going down to a late goal after Brad Young and Andy Murdoch had tied the score at two apiece. That was a disappointing result for Lee Bullen's men after they had just beaten Morton, Dundee and Cove Rangers in the previous three games. Last week Morton gained some revenge by knocking Ayr out of the Challenge cup after a 1-1 draw and a penalty shoot-out.
Latest Team News
We still have a handful of players out injured, mainly Sutherland, Walsh, Welsh, MacGregor, Samuels............ Max Ram returned against Brechin City and played for an hour, coming through unscathed but is not 100% fit. Four or five were also rested last week and I would expect to see Billy Mckay, Mark Ridgers and David Carson back in the starting XI.
Straight from the horses mouth, here's Billy 🦓
Eric has written a book about Ayr (also available in hardback 😂)
Useless facts; of the Championship teams, Ayr United have the largest squad at 28, the lowest average age of 22.7 years and the highest percentage of foreign players 39.3% (11 players).
With manager Lee Bullen arriving halfway through last season there were, at my count, 33 players that went through the books as he sought to avoid the relegation zone. Who knew
The last tranche of players to leave Somerset Park were.
Mateusz Miller a young keeper has joined East Kilbride reserves.
From the backs gone are Jack Baird off to Morton, Aaron Muirhead on a free to Partick, James Maxwell loan period from Rangers concluded and Blaine Rowe another loan player returned to parent club Coventry City.
Midfield player Alex Kenyon is now with Chester FC and Kerr McInroy back to Celtic after loan.
Front man Tomi Adeloye departed to Swindon Town and left winger Ryan Gondoh is now at Sevenoaks FC.
Drafted into the Ayr squad at the start of this season:
A pair of centre backs, Frankie Musonda who was at Raith Rovers the last couple of seasons and Alex Kirk on loan from Arsenal U21, he was also in youth and U18 squads.
In the middle of the park there are a number of additions.
David Bangala defensive midfield arrives from Latvian side FK Pohronie, spent formative years with French sides.
Central midfielder Ben Dempsey has made his move to Ayr after a short loan there last season.
Carter Jenkins has been promoted to the first team squad from the U18 set up, another defensive midfielder.
Josh Mullin is on loan from Livingston and was at Hamilton last season.
Attacking midfield player Jayden Mitchell-Lawson signed from Swindon Town was a product of the Derby youth system.
On the right-wing Dario Viviani is another player stepping up from Ayr U18s.
Dipo Akinyemi is a centre forward brought in from Welling United, he is a man of many clubs in the National League South, 6th tier of English football.
Having come through the Aston Villa youth teams Brad Young is a centre forward on loan for the season.