Ayr Utd Nov 2023

[tm4tj]

Ayr Do for Dunc

 

Ayr United are next up for big Dunc as his salvage operation gathers pace after a great away point at Tannadice last week. We're not quite at the Big Dunc's revolution stage, more of an evolution but we are heading in the right direction after a poor start to the season. Ayr come up North on Saturday for a 3:00pm start sitting in fifth place on goal difference with 14 points looking to get back into the top four. We could strike a crucial blow to their aspirations should we come out on top as we are five points behind them with two games in hand. It's a six pointer this early in the season! Big talking point this week in the Highlands is the departure of Sporting Director John Robertson as he leaves to "pursue other opportunities". All the best to Robbo in his new venture and one can't help but imagine that might free up some wages for a player or two.

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Match Ticket Info & Lest we Forget

John Robertson Leaving ICTFC

Cowdenbeath Cup Date Confirmed

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Venue for H2H v Ayr Utd

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	24	10	11	3	39	26	+13
Away	26	12	6	8	47	32	+15
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	50	22	17	11	86	58	+28

Only eleven defeats overall versus Ayr United but they held the upper hand over the last two encounters both home and away. We have had some tremendous games against the Honest Men over the years with five, six and even seven goal games an occasional feature of these clashes in bygone days.

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Ayr Utd

0 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

1 - 0 (A)

2 - 2 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

2 - 2 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

2 - 2 (H)

Ayr took the points in the first encounter this season at Somerset Park 0 - 1>>>

Pointless:  Notable absentees for Ayr were last seasons Championship top scorer Dipo Akinyemi who has gone to York City and long time servant Michael Moffat who spent eleven years over two spells at Somerset Park scoring 77 goals in 263 appearances. Dodds was without Roddy MacGregor and Lewis Nicolson with knee injuries. Sean Welsh has a groin injury and also missed out again as did Austin Samuels and Max Ram. Adam Brooks returned to the bench and Danny Devine replaced the missing Wallace Duffy. New sensation Keith Bray started with Inverness down to only six on the bench. Injuries starting early this season already it would seem with six missing..

Ayr got off to the perfect start after just eight minutes when Francis Amartey, Dempsey and Sam Ashford combined for Amartey to slot home the opening goal. Mark Ridgers saved on his line from Nick McAllister as Ayr looked to double their lead. Keith Bray was blocked going into the box and from the follow up Albinson saved from David Carson at the expense of a corner. Plenty of half chances for both sides to score in the first half with Devine going close for the visitors but Albinson tipped over. Longstaff also went close on the break but his shot bounced just wide. Billy Dodds fell foul of the referee on the interval and had to watch the remainder of the game from the stands. (See how he likes it!)

HALF TIME: 1-0

Longstaff saw his header saved ten minutes after the interval as Inverness looked to get back into the game. A spate of substitutions on the hour for Ayr and Harry Lodovica replaced Bray for the visitors before a Jake Davidson cross found Nathan Shaw, but his effort came back off the post. With twenty minutes remaining Shaw was blocked in the box as we chased for a leveller. Substitute Aiden McGeady shot wide approaching the final ten minutes and Cammy Harper failed to hit the target at the other end. Aaron Doran fired a free kick wide from a tight angle and McGeady missed again as time was running away from us. Ridgers tipped over from Pendelbury in the 90th minute and as so often, the game slipped away from us to leave us bottom of the table with Arbroath.

FULL TIME: 1-0

Another defeat leaves Inverness pointless at the foot of the table with Arbroath as Ayr got their first win of the campaign thanks to an early goal from Francis Amartey. Not for the want of trying, but Inverness could not find an equaliser and that will pile more misery on under fire boss Billy Dodds. Our injury situation seems never-ending and we could only muster six on the bench.

Dodds watched from the stand in the second half and will now know why we are concerned...

The natives are no happy on CTO with many asking for a total clearout from top to bottom, questioning the length of contract offered to Billy Dodds. The buck stops at the very top and that is a massive concern for all. Top scorer Billy Mckay was a forlorn figure and was not best pleased at being subbed. Something is wrong that's not right. Sort it now before we leave this league at the wrong end of the table.  Thankfully things have changed somewhat.

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Last Time Out

Big Dunc fashioned us into a squad prepared to dig deep at Tannadice and it paid off as we came away with a credible draw against the League Leaders. A wonderful team goal manufactured from inside our own box all the way down the left wing before Harper crossed for Shaw to drill home from fifteen yards. Total football, great goal!  The Arabs levelled five minutes later when Holt thundered in a bullet header to share the spoils. Some outstanding performers on the day with Ridgers making crucial saves, defenders putting their bodies on the line, midfielders helping out at the front and the back whilst remaining creative, and strikers.... erm still missing plenty, but also tracking back to help out.

Last Five Results: L W D W D 

 

Ayr United are without a win in their last three games and were pegged back by Queens Park last Saturday in a 2-2 draw. Two first half strikes from Anton Dowds had Ayr cruising, but Bannon scored after the break and five minutes into time added on Paton claimed a point for the Spiders in a dramatic finale with his sixth cincher goal of the season.

Last Five Results: W W L D D 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<<< There's your top scorers in the Championship ahead of Friday nights encounter between Dunfermline Athletic and Dundee United. Brian Graham has almost scored as many goals as the Caley Jags have in the Championship (8). That's something that Ferguson needs to address if we are to climb the table into a challenging position (at the top end).

Nathan Shaw is our top scorer this season with three Championship goals to his name. Despite netting his 102nd goal with a penalty in the 3-2 loss to Airdrie in the League Cup group stages, Billy has only netted once in the Championship since then at Arbroath some five games ago. He has three goals in total, two in the League Cup group stages. That's not a great return from your top striker.

 

Latest Team News

We are still without any of our half dozen longer term injured players. Sean Welsh missed out again last week along with Luis Longstaff. Wallace Duffy returned from the bench to replace an injured David Carson who is a doubt this week. Danny Devine and Morgan Boyes started at Tannadice after being out for a couple of games. According to our stats, Mark Ridgers should make his 250th appearance for his home town team. Another clean sheet would be most welcome.

 

Ayr did settled down after an inconsistent start and still have Logan Chalmers. We know what he is capable of. Anton Dowds netted twice last week and he is their top scorer with 5 strikes. Former Motherwell player Jamie Murphy and ex-ICT loanee Chalmers have four goals apiece.

Ayr team v Queens Pk: Dowds   

Mutch

 

Ahui   McGinty   Stanger   Reading

 

Chalmers (Senga 75)  Young   Syla (Smith 45)  Murphy (McGeady 79)

 

Rose (Bryden 64)   Dowds (Amartey 75)

 

Subs not used: O & F Ecremont, McKenzie, McAllister

Apparently their bench was full of Ecremont. Well, that's what I thought he said 

 

Lest We Forget:  With this game being played on Remembrance Day, the club will be offering Free Entry to UK Forces personnel, past and present. One Adult & One Child per application. (home or away support)

FORCES GO FREE 

 

[bdu98196]

Overcome with the levels of excitement for this one!!!

Tight affair, expect us to struggle to score as usual, so low scoring either 1-0, or 1-1. Hoping for all 3 points though to keep up the momentum.

[Donald1973]

Be good if we can get the 3 points and others in the middle of the park drop points so we can start climbing the table again soon. Not really bothered at this stage what the top 4 currently do we just need to chase safety 

[STFU]

Finding it hard to get excited for the game so soon after the devastating news of Robertson's departure.

Hopefully the players aren't being impacted too badly by it and can pull off a win to keep us moving in the right direction.

[ICTPaisley]

20 minutes ago, STFU said:

Finding it hard to get excited for the game so soon after the devastating news of Robertson's departure.

Hopefully the players aren't being impacted too badly by it and can pull off a win to keep us moving in the right direction.

If we lose then it’s probably your fault.

Edited November 11, 2023 by ICTPaisley

[IBM]

A good day for the game, I hope we keep improving and score a few goals today, three points are required.

[jed5697]

Ayr team stayed overnight in Inverness so they must be fancying a result today; hopefully we won’t oblige them . Three points for us would be right handy at this point in time

[+snorbens_caleyman]

I've just wakened up from dreaming that it was 3-0 at half-time 

[Yngwie]

FT 3-1, that’s another really good result. Doesn’t matter that the 2nd half wasn’t as impressive as the first.

[Douglas Mackenzie]

I think most of us were nippers when we last were 3 up at half time.Excellent performance great passing at speed and at last playing big boys football. Six weeks ago we looked  that we might be going down,what  turnaround under big Dunc

[+Moogthurso]

Dunc will be furious we conceded a goal. 

The team have to perform to his level now not theirs. 

But a very impressive 60% win record. Let's see what it is after ten games in charge. 

The manager is great.

The players are good enough.Some of them may even progress their careers up the league this season with Caley.

We may never catch Utd this year but we will be looking at 60+ pts by end of season. That should start frightening Partick, Raith , Dunfermline and Airdrie.

And any team in 2nd last in the Premier league. 

Happy Clappy Caley again. 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Moogthurso

[The Long Man]

Two games in hand over the next two above us. Win one of those and we rocket up to 5th. What a turn around. All credit to Dunc.

[BobbyDazzler]

I said at the start of the season we have a squad capable of competing for a play off spot. I still stand by that. Big Dunc has been a breath of fresh air. Wotherspoon has been a great addition. 

[Robert]

An enjoyable afternoon.

The first half hour was pretty even but we had an explosive 15 minutes before half time which settled the game.

Wotherspoon is proving a real asset and I hope we extend his contract beyond January.

Mckay did brilliantly to start the build up to the first goal. Wotherspoon squeezed his second in from a very tight angle and Mckay buried the penalty. None of us saw that all coming after 30 minutes.

We were pinned back for most of the second half and Ayr’s penalty made it slightly nervy but we saw it out. My only complaint is that we invited Ayr on to us too much in the second half. However, Ridgers did not have much to do.

We lost Anderson at half time, presumably to injury, but hopefully a precautionary change.

The picks for me were Wotherspoon, Mckay and Boyes. Credit also to Harper who nullified Chalmers to the point we didn’t see Chalmers after the break.

11 points out of 15 and up to 8th. If we can win at Dunfermline in our first game in hand next week we will be 5th.

Well done guys!

Edited November 11, 2023 by Robert

[jed5697]

First twenty minutes was pretty even however there was quite a few missed passes from us and Ayr closing down. The first goal seemed to settle us and had the opposite effect on Ayr. From then only one team in the rest of the first half. Dreamland at 3-0 second half was a bit of a grind however Ayr lacked a cutting edge; they only got one through Ridgers generosity of the penalty gift to celebrate his 250th game Wotherspoon MOM trajectory upwards at the moment; fasten the seatbelts

[bdu98196]

Maintaining the gap to DUtd which at this stage is all we can do to match them and try to better week on week.

Dunc has clearly changed to whole mentality and atmosphere at the club. Let's maintain form til January and see what he can do with a backed transfer window.

[robbo1985]

  Duh-Duh---Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh----- Duncan Ferguson!!! 

Once again not a vintage performance by any means but we scored the goals at a really good time and then saw out the second half without much trouble..... I could get used to this!!  There were some spells of nice interchanges and keeping the ball well; not as much as at Dundee Utd last week but that has to be a secondary concern at the moment anyways given our situation.  What is clear is that the players are giving everything and growing in confidence under Big Dunc's regime - Carson and Harper prime examples of this.

My standouts today were Boyes, Gilmour and MOTM David Wotherspoon who has been an excellent addition.  Goals aside, he has given us an outlet which we didn't have before, holds the ball up well and brings others into play.  Prior to his arrival Billy McKay was spending his time isolated and chasing lost causes.  Now he is spending more time in the areas we want and need him, i.e. in the penalty box.

Max Anderson has also really came onto a game since the new manager came in.  One of the stewards at last week's game (who was a Dundee fan) said that they want him back.... I hope we can keep him until at least the end of the season.  Hoping he's not injured and instead was taken off at half time as he was our only player sitting on a yellow card.

3-points at Dunfermline next week would be a huge statement to the rest of the teams in the league (Dundee Utd apart) and hopefully have us striving for the play-off places.  Looking forward to it already and hopefully we can take a sizeable away support to help cheer the boys to victory.

Don't want to get too carried away at this stage, and I'm sure there will be ups and downs throughout the season, but also feel we should enjoy the honeymoon period for as long as it lasts!

 

 

[tm4tj]

First Draft of CTO report

 

 

[IBM]

Wow that was a great first half  it's been a long time coming!  Although we were under pressure after Ayr scored their penalty we never looked like loosing like last season.  Well done to Big Dunc and all the team 

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

That's two weeks in a row that Davy Carson gets subbed and we concede!! Thought we got a bit cocky early in the second half and by not adding to the score gave Ayr a chance to get back into the game. Max Anderson was quite a miss methinks second half. Based on Friday night's TV game, Dunfermline next Saturday will be very tough. However, things are beginning to brighten up. In some ways today's performance was not as good as the draw against United so plenty of work next week on the training ground. Latterly Under Dodds home crowds raced for the exits after games. Today it was noticeable how the crowds at the end gathered to acknowledge the team and Manager.  Moving in the right direction.

[tm4tj]

 

[+Tree]

Nice to see a team that looks coached and has a bit of identity about how they are trying to play after the past seasons of drifting along. Still a work in progress but also nice to not feel the urge to fall asleep  

[Jaggernaut]

Three first half goals! I can't remember when that happened last! We scored our goals at good times, and credit to Billy Mckay for his never give up attitude for starting the run for the first goal. He covers every blade of grass.

My only criticism is why we never leave a player up on the centre line when we concede corners, it doesn't give us an out ball, and just invites our opponents to start another attack.

So, hopefully a good weeks training and on to Dunfermline, and if we can get a win there, it will put us on the same points, which I couldn't even thought about not that long ago.  

[Yngwie]

6 hours ago, BobbyDazzler said:

I said at the start of the season we have a squad capable of competing for a play off spot.

At the start of the season the team didn’t have Wotherspoon, Anderson, Ujdur or Boyes who are all first team regulars now. IMO back then the playoffs were something we could perhaps hope for but certainly not expect, regardless of who the manager was.

[tm4tj]