Scottish Cup Third Round

BANKS O' DEE 2

AYR UNITED 6

by Calum Campbell and Iain Robb

FORM team Ayr United made the long trip to Aberdeen, finally seeing off a stuffy Banks O’ Dee side with a brace of goals each from Lawrence Shankland, Craig Moore and Declan McDaid in this William Hill Scottish Cup Third Round encounter. A potential banana skin was avoided with a thoroughly professional performance by the Honest Men leaving gaffer Ian McCall a happy man.

"Over all It was a good day, " he said "but a horrible day to play football, it was freezing, it was windy, and the pitch wasn’t great. It was a great leveller. We’re just pleased to get through and score another six goals. That’s 65 goals and that’s not bad’.

It wasn’t a bad start for United either. With only 32 seconds on the clock, the Honest Men took the lead.

Robbie Crawford powered through from his own half to 20 yards out where he played a one-two with Craig Moore (a delicious back-heeled nutmeg) before slipping the ball into the penalty area. It looked a simple ball for the Dee defence to deal with, but their attempts took on the look of slapstick comedy with defender Alan White nervously trying to clear but hitting off his own wing back Neale Allan. Somehow the ball seemed to stick between Allan’s feet as he continued towards his own goal with keeper Shearer to assist ad free-scoring striker Shankland stepped in and poked the ball into the net from a tight angle.

If United thought it was going to be easy, they were in for a shock. Banks O’ Dee were awarded a penalty in four minutes, when keeper Jordan Hart came off his line to try and reach a hanging cross but failed to make contact and ploughed through striker Jamie Watt before landing awkwardly. It took four minutes for the penalty to be taken as Hart received treatment to a facial injury sustained in the incident.

Watt then stepped up and slammed the ball into the net from the spot and bring the sides level.

Worse was to come for United in 25 minutes when Banks O’ Dee went ahead, again from the penalty spot, after skipper Ross Docherty needlessly barged into Michael Philipson. Again, it was prolific goal scorer Watt who stepped up and drilled the ball home, low to Hart’s right, taking his season’s tally so far to 21 goals.

Banks O’ Dee returned to their game plan, defending in depth and numbers, attempting to stifle the United’s intentions. The Honest Men showed skill, calmness and composure, working the ball around the pitch with some excellent interplay whilst probing the Banks O’ Dee defence.

Some hard challenges were going in and Paddy Boyle suffering a nasty one when he was barged in mid-air and landed heavily on his shoulder. In 36 minutes, Paddy Boyle was forced to come off and was replaced by Declan McDaid.

A minute later, Ayr were back on level terms. Moore chased onto a high ball over the Dee defence and into the box where, under pressure from Liam McCall, he fired the ball along the six=yard line to Shankland who tapped home.

As Ayr turned on the power, Banks O’ Dee seemed to lose their composure and cohesion. The Dee struggled to cope with the tricky skills of Crawford and McDaid, on both flanks, prompted by Docherty pulling the strings in midfield.

In 43 minutes Ayr claimed the lead they deserved. Shankland put pressure on defender White who could only tap the ball to McDaid on the right-hand side of the box. McDaid controlled, shuffled onto his left foot, before smashing a drive high into the net.

Just on the stroke of half time Ayr finally put space between themselves and the stuffy Northern Super League team and what a peach it was. Crawford surged down the left and played the ball to Ferguson neatly back healed the ball behind the defensive line where he found Crawford who had continued his run. The midfielder then cut in before finding McDaid who flicked the ball under control before rifling home from 8 yards.

It could have been more when, in the last of the half’s five additional minutes, Shankland hit the post with a fierce strike.

Ayr started the second half with the same intensity as they had finished the first and the skills gap between the two sides really began to show in abundance.

In 52 minutes Andy Geggan played a neat cutback to Shankland in the box but the striker’s drive went narrowly wide and settled in the side netting.

Whatever faint hope the Dee had of getting back into the game was finally crushed when Kane Winton was shown a second yellow for an elbow in the face of United’s captain, Ross Docherty.

Ayr piled on the misery for the Dee when in 63 minutes they went 5-2 up. Geggan played the ball in front of Moore who chased into the box before unleashing a thunderous drive into the roof of the net.

Two minutes later and it was six. Keeper Shearer rushed out of his box in an attempt to beat Shankland to the ball, but his clearance was poor and only reached Moore who lifted the ball into the net from 35 yards.

It was now a masterclass from dominant Ayr, switching to three at the back and pushing forward in waves.

Crawford, moving into the centre of midfield, looked exceptional probing the Dee defence with pinpoint passes and showing an elegant and skilful control that left opposition players trailing and bemused in his wake.

That Ayr didn’t score more is the only mystery, with a Michael Rose header cleared off the line, a Crawford drive scraping over the bar, young substitute Luke McCowan dribbling across the edge of the box then seeing his shot going just over, Moore hitting the side netting, McDaid hitting the bar, and substitute Craig McGuffie terrorising the Dee back line, and going close on two occasions.

A satisfying journey north for the Honest Men and they can look forward to league action on Saturday at Recreation Park, Alloa.

STAR MAN

Michael Rose 3

Robbie Crawford 2

David Ferguson 1

BANKS O'DEE: Shearer; Allan, White, McCall, Robertson, Hamilton, Henderson, Winton, Watt, Philipson, Hall Subs: Sahhalevtis (GK), Murray, Duguid, Macleod, Shrive, Taylor, Smith.

AYR UNITED: Hart; Ferguson, Rose, Reid, Boyle, Geggan, Docherty, Crawford, Moffat, Shankland, Moore.

Subs: Avci (GK), Forrest, McDaid, McGuffie, Faulds, Waite, McCowan

Referee: Craig Napier

Attendance: 469