KDM Evolution Trophy semi-finals

Details confirmed for the last-four ties

Tuesday 24 February
Ayr United v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Live on BBC ALBA, kick-off 7.30pm
 
Wednesday 25 February
Airdrieonians v Raith Rovers
Live on BBC ALBA, kick-off 7.30pm

In the event of a draw after 90 minutes, semi-final ties will be determined by penalty kicks

Quite a game at Falkirk Stadium with St Johnstone equalising in the 94th minute to draw 3-3 and take it to pens. Ayr win the shootout 5-4…

A slight surprise. However, the Stenny game is currently very critical to our season. As for the KDM semi final we will need to control Oakley - a case of Ayr on the side of caution.

KDM TROPHY SEMI-FINAL

Been a long time coming, but we are now getting down to the business end of the KDM Trophy. It’s a massive night at Somerset Park! Only Ayr United stand between us and a place in the Challenge Cup final this Tuesday, 24 February. The second finalist will be decided tomorrow night when Airdrie host Raith Rovers. If you can't make it to the game, both semi-finals are live on BBC Alba!

It's another tough task as we look to end the run of another Championship side in Scott Brown's Ayr United who currently sit 4th in their League Table. We have already put out second placed Partick Thistle on penalties after a 3-3 draw followed by a hard fought 1-0 win over fellow League1 contenders Stenhousemuir. Incidentally, Ayr United and Ross County played out a no scoring draw at the weekend whilst we were being held in the Highlands by Stenhousemuir, our nearest rivals in League1. Scott Brown has got the Honest Men performing at a good level and has them hovering around the edge of the play-off places.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KDM TROPHY SEMI-FINAL

There's a few quid up for grabs

• Winner £150,000

• Runner-up £100,000

• Losing 1/2 £75,000

• Losing 1/4 £50,000

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We have had some great tussles with Ayr United over the years. Happy days with barrowloads of goals. The number 7 has cropped up a few times in various formats. Did you witness any of these games...

2000

Dec 2nd

League (Wyness hat-trick)

7 - 3

(H)

1,513

2001

Jan 27th

Scottish Cup (Round 3)

4 - 3

(H)

2,258

2010

Apr 24th

League

7 - 0

(A)

1,804

Heaviest Defeat

Nov 28th, 2001

League Cup (Quarter Final)

(A)

1 - 5

Last 10 Competitive Meetings with Ayr

1 - 2 (H)

3 - 1 (A)

3 - 1 (H)

0 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

1 - 0 (A)

2 - 2 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

That was our squad at the weekend against Stenhousemuir in League1. The squad won't differ much from Saturday, but I'm sure some legs will be rested as we look to keep our promotion hopes on track. At the same time, we need to remain focussed on the task in hand I have no doubt we will see a few changes from Saturday's starting XI. Red carded Ben Brannan should be available for this tournament therefore it might be prudent to play him tonight as he won't be available for our next League1 game against Kelty Hearts. Joe Chalmers has missed the last couple of games and will we see our front runners given a break to prepare for the weekend?

GAME INFO

• Ayr United FC v ICTFC

• KDM Evolution Trophy Semi Final

• Tuesday 24 February

• 7.30pm kick-off

• Somerset Park

• Live on BBC Alba

TICKET INFO

https://tickets.ayrunitedtickets.co.uk/event/ayr-v-inverness-kdm-evolution-trophy-away

• Options available are: West Stand (seating) only.

• Tickets prices are as follows:

• Adult – £15

• Concession – £6 (Over 65s, Disabled, Ambulant and Students)

• Juvenile – £6 (13-17-years-old)

• Child – £3 (Under 13s)

If any disabled/ambulant supporters require a carer, then they will be able to obtain 1 free carer ticket by calling Ayr United’s Club Shop on 01292 263435 (option 1). 

Supporters must have a ticket or they will not be permitted entry to the Stadium. Tickets must be purchased online in advance of the match as there will not be any cash gates in operation at Somerset Park.

ICT Supporters Travel Club 🚍

The ICT Travel Club are running a bus to the match.

The bus leaves the Sarens PSG Stadium at 1.30pm, picking up in Aviemore and Pitlochry. £20 a seat. Book through Facebook or on 07462218717

That was the KDM Trophy side that knocked out Championship leaders St Johnstone on 17th February in a penalty shoot-out after a 3-3 draw over 90 minutes. Former Caley Jag George Oakley scored twice in this delayed 1/4 Final, his first start since the end of August. Kevin Holt scored Ayr's third goal. A dramatic ending to the ninety minutes saw St Johnstone draw level with two goals from the 89th minute. The Honest Men progressed winning the penalty shoot-out 4-5.

Ayr only made one change to the starting XI when Ross County visited Somerset Park at the weekend. New signing from Celtic, Ben Summers, came in to replace Anton Dowds who joined the Ayr sidelined alongside Rus, Murphy, Ure and Watret.

Mark McKenzie is Ayr's top scorer in the Championship with seven goals, Jamie Murphy has five.

George Finney has been loaned in from Everton.

Kenzie Mitchell has joined Auchinleck Talbot for the remainder of the season.

Here's Billy>>>

Three of the top four goal scorers in this season's KDM Evolution Trophy play for the Caley Jags

Will that lead us to the final and an extra minimum of £25K?

Somerset Park should hold no fear for the Caley Jags, but given the sides respective League positions these days, we will start as massive underdogs and our defence will have as big a part to play as our strikers.

All will be revealed tonight.

Let’s hope we can bag a few more tonight 😃 looking forward to watching the game.

Oakley starts as does top scorer Mark McKenzie.

Ben Summers cup-tied.

Dowds, Dempsey, Rus, Murphy, Ure and Watret all out injured

Six changes from Saturday v Stenny.

Kick in the teeth for the travelling support or sensible use of the big squad?

Robertson in the middle of defence, Oscar at LB, Thats good. Alonge starting, Thats good, Longstaff starting OK with that, Billy and Spoony starting owww! 2 old farts leading the attack 🤔 Bavidge the secret weapon to come on and snatch winner!

1 0 up! Cracking move and nicely taken by Alonge!! and almost one for Billy!

Edited February 24Feb 24 by caley100

1 1 poor tackle from Robertson, And Munro is looking dodgy with the kick outs!

We’ve looked very shaky at the back. Being level at HT is pretty good but we’ll have to find something extra.

1 hour ago, tm4tj said:

Six changes from Saturday v Stenny.

Kick in the teeth for the travelling support or sensible use of the big squad?

Starting with more experience apart from the CB that's off to Livingston...

Seemed to have the measure of Ayr although I don't know why they weren't pressing us.

Felt we might concede first due to self inflicted cockups with rying to pass out from very tight areas, then we scored.

Bit of a tactical 'injury' to the keeper, whole team round Mr brown getting tic-tac update. Nice.

Think we have pace to bring to the forward line which could make the difference if we are still in contention

1 minute ago, Satan said:

Bit of a tactical 'injury' to the keeper, whole team round Mr brown getting tic-tac update. Nice.

Absolutely - that's what we said here. But it worked.

And I get very nervous whenever Remi Savage and the ball get near to each other...

Wotherspoon looks a bit Rusty, And Brannan's passing is dodgy!

Brilliant from Alonge, But what the feck was Sole doing? feckin idiot!

Yes!! well done guys!

Brilliant: beating two top four Championship teams away from home to get to the cup final!

Well done to Kel, Billy and all the players.

It shows we can compete in the Championship when we get there.

Excellent result. Solid performance against a good Championship side, and a cup final to look forward to.

Thoroughly deserved win. Apart from 10 mins or so leading up to their equaliser, I thought we were always in control. Thought the pundits on Alba were very fair in their assessments of Caley's performance'

Back to league business on Saturday. Another performance like this will be very welcome.

Well played lads. Onwards and upwards

1 hour ago, Yngwie said:

We’ve looked very shaky at the back. Being level at HT is pretty good but we’ll have to find something extra.

That must have been some team talk at half time, we came out looking so much more solid all over the pitch and deserved to win.

Great performance. Ayr fans very unhappy with Broony. BBC stats massively in our favour. No mention of Xg mind you 😂

When’s the final, and will it be at McDiarmid?

Just now, Yngwie said:

When’s the final, and will it be at McDiarmid?

Date not confirmed, either last weekend in March or first weekend in April. McDiarmid makes the most sense so it will be somewhere like Berwick 😂

1 hour ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Absolutely - that's what we said here. But it worked.

And I get very nervous whenever Remi Savage and the ball get near to each other...

Do you? I think hes one cool customer and having a superb season. Cant see him staying beyond this season tbh. All about opinions lol

Really enjoyed watching the game, two good goals from Alonge and a good team effort from all, still hate the close passing at the back though!

Very well done to all the staff and the team, not forgetting the fans who made the long journey

Now looking forward to another cup final

8 minutes ago, IBM said:

Now looking forward to another cup final

We truly are spoiled. In Ayr’s >100 years of history they have never won a cup, and since they last reached a final in 2001/02, we have reached 8 finals!