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Huge win in a quite entertaining game if somewhat short on quality at times. One player who certainly isn't short of quality is Polworth and his superb defence splitting pass sent Austin scampering away and he looked to be clipped by Doohan and from seemingly nowhere we had the chance to go one goal up. Sadly, as is the current ICT style, we fluffed the spot kick as Doran sent a weak shot down the middle of the goal and it was kept out by the trailing leg of the Ayr keeper. Austin was involved at the other end when we failed to clear a corner and Miller sent a fierce shot heading towards goal but Austin was on hand to header away. A few folk around me said it was probably going wide but I'm not so sure. Certainly grateful to have Austin there to keep Ayr out. Doran was next to threaten for Inverness when he picked up the ball on the right edge of the box but his shot was just over the bar although Doohan looked to have it covered. Miller again had a great chance to put Ayr ahead when a cross from Cadden, who was roasting Rooney for much of the opening 30 minutes, was deflected into his path but thankfully he sent a poor header high and wide with Ridgers looking stranded. Then came one of the many goalmouth scrambles of the day. Walsh tried to get onto the ball as it bobbled around in the six yard area but when he did swing a foot at the ball his effort was good enough to beat the Ayr keeper. The start of the second half saw Ayr administer an absolute bodying to the ICT defence save from actually scoring. Almost all the Ayr attacks were coming down the ICT right with a number of low crosses flashed across the goal. However it was Craig Thomson who almost helped set up the Ayr opener when a Donaldson clearance crashed off his back and sat up nicely for Geggan but he pulled a volleyed effort wide. Another goalmouth scramble saw Rooney and Tremarco make desperate blocks to keep United out before Geggan somehow hooked an effort well over from only a few yards out as Ayr started to turn the screw and it looked to be only a matter of time before we would concede especially given that we had lost Donaldson to injury by this point. Almost inexplicably we then took the lead Rooney was felled on the right touchline, Chalmers lifted a ball into the box which was missed by the United defence and Brad Mckay was on hand to score a goal of the season contender from 0.3 yards out. Ayr came right back into the game when McDaid cut inside and sent a low drive towards goal but Ridgers got down well to smother the shot. in the final few moments Moffat managed to create some space in the box but he seemed to hook his effort across the face of goal with no team mate on hand to tuck it away. Something of a smash and grab win for us but, as we've found out this season, if you don't take your chances... I was really impressed with the pace and movement of Shankland, Miller and Cadden and then McDaid when he came on. Rooney had a torrid time at right back and it was only a result of really poor finishing from the likes of Miller and Geggan that we didn't concede about 4 goals. For ICT White had a poor game for the first 60 minutes then turned into a colossus for the final 30 mainly due to having a bit more space to work in as mentioned by Caley Stan above. He went from losing every header he went up for to winning just about everything and linking brilliantly with team mates to really take the pressure off the defence. Austin had a good game as well as did Doran (despite the penalty miss) and Polworth. Huge loss for us with Donaldson going off with what looked to be a knee injury. He appeared in the dugout before full time in flip flops so I am hoping he was just looking to boost early to get a Ryanair flight at Prestwick right after kick off... A word for the Ayr fans, almost never stopped singing and getting behind their team for pretty much the entire game. I can't recall a home support like that this season. Great effort.

We got home to Aberdeen from the game at 11:45pm after stopping in Glasgow for dinner and was too tired to post about about the game. Rig and Caley Stan pretty much sums it all up above and through hard work, grit and endeavour we came through with the three points. For all that Ayr had the ball in the second half I can't recall ever feeling like they were truly threatening us and the few saves Ridgers made were very comfortable. 4-4-2 for me doesn't work in terms of the style of play I like to see and we were over-run in midfield, it was noticeable that Polworth was not happy with something that Scott Kellacher said to him in the first half and it continued all through the second half. When Donaldson went down injured the team were over at the dugout, SC discussing stuff with them and it was notable from a few players body language that they didn't agree. Not sure that he was actually encouraging them although he did seem to try and reconcile with Polworth at the end of the game as they walked off but Polworth still wasn't happy. Saying that regards formation, we did what we needed to do and got a massive three points. Donaldson was superb for me until he went off injured, we stayed outside the main stand after the match and when he came out he didn't look good at all, was limping very heavily with very limited movement. Had they had crutches with them I reckon he would have been using them, it's probably just as well he's suspended next week. White deserves huge praise for coming into the game and for me looked much better after Austin went off, he seemed to know better where to be and enjoyed being the only focal point. For someone who looked very clumsy at the start of the season he's really come on and his touch and control in the last 20mins just proved that. Gets a lot of bad press for doing the ugly work but he done exactly what was asked of him, spoke to him briefly after the match and he said that it was a hard shift but a huge three points. Big shout out to the players afterwards outside when they were getting on the bus: we waited outside the ground to try and get photos for MissCaleyjag and they were superb with her; White, Walsh, Ridgers, Mckay, Chalmers and Robbo and I've never seen a kid look so happy to get her photo taken with complete strangers. They really made her day to top off her first game.

According to the SPFL these are the Play Off dates for that Premier league place. May 8 Ladbrokes Premiership play-off quarter-final, 1st leg 11 Ladbrokes Premiership play-off quarter-final, 2nd leg 15 Ladbrokes Premiership play-off semi-final, 1st leg 18 Ladbrokes Premiership play-off semi-final, 2nd leg 23 Ladbrokes Premiership play-off final, 1st leg 26 Ladbrokes Premiership play-off final, 2nd leg Question is, how are ICT going to cope with a two leg play off final against St Mirren and the Scottish Cup Final (25th May) against Aberdeen? Three games in four days seems a bit unfair don't you think?

I find this quite interesting, great form from us but 4 points from 18 for Ayr? Wow!

There's a good reason for that though - we're just much more suited to playing against proactive teams. Today was a case in point. Ayr started out stuffy, White had 3 men surrounding him every time we hit a long ball, Polly and Chalmers couldn't find any space to play a forward pass from beyond the halfway line. Once we scored (against the run of play), Ayr had to open up and suddenly White was winning every ball and laying it off to midfield runners in space. We're a really well drilled side with great spirit, but the quality is not quite high enough to break (even bad) teams down. It's only once the space opens up that we start to create good chances. This was a huge game and when I saw the line-up I feared the worst. In the end, McHattie was comfortable at centre-half and Rooney didn't have any disasters - still very worrying to think we might start next week with the back 4 that finished today. Polly and Chalmers in the centre of a midfield 4 - lots of fans have been calling for it for a while, and Robbo didn't have much choice today. It worries me, there's a real lack physical presence there, and it's surely no coincidence that Ayr had an awful lot of territorial domination, but once the game opened up it looked good - it's great to have Polly back there to receive the ball deep and it was even better once MacDonald came on for Walsh (who had had a quiet game) and looked really dangerous cutting inside from the right. Hopefully he can be a big player for us in the play-offs. Doran played well again, Austin was decent, and White, after a poor first half had a spell in the second half where everything he touched came off. He deserved it, he puts in a helluva shift. Somerset is great, can't wait to go back next month.

It's called giving a report of the match in some form in order to give everyone some sort of perspective on the game. I didn't know you wanted a Twitter style report limited to a small amount of characters. Actually hats of to the likes of Caley Stan and Rig who took the time to write their informative posts. PS: it was a good away win 'yesterday'

Exclude the penalty shoot out and we have missed more than half the spot kicks we have been awarded. That is not good enough and we need to be more clinical if we are awarded any more penalties this season. We should select two designated takers and have them practice for hours.

Great report RIG, you are today's reporter

Please go to sleep Satan ASAP

Well said Mr Caleyjag. So pleased you had a good day with the missus and miss.

I'd used it previously to prove an Aberdeen fan wrong when he said Shinnie was a Dons supporter!

great 3 points no matter how we got there.

He's better where he is same as Polworth for a few extra dollars they're gonna warm the bench at mediocre clubs like Dundee or St Johnstone! The clubs been good to Doran stuck by him when he was injured all the time lot of clubs would've binned him he owes ICT hope he stays out best player by a country mile

Exclude the penalty shoot out we wouldn’t be going to Hampden so we can’t exclude them ? Just need a bit of perspective and I did say we can improve.

Excellent report by Rig. But a bit worrying. In his words we got away with a 'real smash and grab'. Still, we've been on the other side of that coin once or twice this season, so I'm happy to take the 3 points and move on. I don't mind if we have the same 'rub of the green' next Saturday. We have it all in our own hands now for converting an 'average minus season' into another memorable one. So well done to the team for giving all we supporters some thing to look forward to in the next few weeks. Onwards and upwards.

Lets get this in perspective According to my memory we have had 14 pens this season including the penaly shoot out. We have scored 9 and missed 5 so 65% conversion rate , oh how the yes voters in Scotland would yearn for that %. So in reality we have scored more than we have missed but I do agree that we can improve, but to constantly go on about it especially when management does the same isnt helping the players when they step up to take a pen. Donaldson Polworth Welsh White Doran These guys have all missed pens during a game this season, but lets remember 4 of them all scored in the penalty shoot out to take us forward in the Scottish Cup. So next week when we are all at Hampden it was goals scored from the penalty spot that got us the day in Glasgow. On yesterday game some great summing up already in the forum from Rig Caley Stan and others,great to hear about the players having photos with the wee lass in her first game. Fantastic result.

Great to get the three points especially after missing a penalty. Well done to the team ?

And if we win our next two matches we could be in the play offs and feckin Europe

Thought they practised from 15 yards

Can hardly believe that Nick Walsh was the ref in the Rangers game today! What does that say about these “blue suits” who are supposed to envigilate the referees and their performance at each game.