Ayrv Inverness / Inverness v Ayr - Play Off Quarter Final

[ayrmad]

31 minutes ago, rb123! said:

We can't do a plan B because we don't have those players fit, Plan B against Inverness would be sticking big Adams or Bell up top so we could actually win a long ball, thought McCall's substitution of Forrest for McDaid was questionable, should have been Miller IMO.

McCall simply has to go gung ho with the team on Saturday. Moffat, Shankland, McCowan, McDaid and Miller must all start.

Hopefully the Inverness players go into the mindset  of the ties over and start shit on Saturday.

Nah, f**k playing hoofball, we've been playing it for months with a team of dwarfs against giant defences, it's fucking crazy, play the ball on the deck for 90 minutes not 5 or 10 here and there, Rose and the other defenders should have been subbed long ago whenever they resorted to hoofball.

[AUcal]

I think he still views Crawford as an attacking midfield which I’m not sure I agree with. I think he’s far better chasing players down and winning the ball back. I think you could get away with playing Crawford and Murdoch in midfield with Cadden and Forrest on either side.

 

Not bothered if I ever see McDaid in an Ayr shirt after tonight. Most overrated player in that team.

McDaid is honestly woeful. Shame there was no tv cameras. He might have put in at least one successful cross or actually successfully taken someone on.

I find it very strange that opposing fans talk about him as one of our big players who would be a big loss.

 

[AUFC 1910]

Disappointing for the season to fizzle out the way it had.

 

Absolutely zero momentum going into the playoffs.

 

Could still see shades of what we were doing earlier in the season.

 

High balls all night were completely pointless against a team of giants though.

 

Best of luck to I C T in the next round. Hope you take 5 off the tangerines, but can't see it.

 

As for us, a massive well done to everyone involved at the club this season. Beyond expectation.

 

Hope the summer signings get the support dreaming again for another season.

 

Personally, I'll settle for 8th place, need to stay in this league and keep moving forward.

 

 

[AUFC 1910]

Love you Ayr United. See you soon x x x

[rb123!]

Steven McLean the ref on Saturday, oh well it was nice to hope for a half decent ref on Saturday.

[Honest_Ally]

 

[HeathrowAUFC]

I actually thought we zipped the ball about beautifully at times but got mugged on 3 different occasions.

There was absolutely nothing between the sides and given the first goal on Saturday, we’re right back in this. Admittedly, we’d have to defend a fair bit more robustly to keep the tie alive.

McCowan is an absolute must start for the second leg. If there’s a way of shoehorning Moffat & McCowan into the side I’d love to see it but failing that, Moff out, McCowan in.

[wuffster]

[UpInTheAyr]

Offside right enough, had the line as reference so no excuse for not  flagging it. Can see why the penalty was given with the position the ref was in.

[rb123!]

White i think it was should have been sent off at the end imo, kicked out at Muirhead.

[ayrmad]

The 2nd goal was a very poor decision from the lino and if the 3rd's a pen then Shankland should have had a pen for the same thing.

Onwards and upwards, time to play football for the full 90 on Saturday.

[jm86]

Apologies to ICT fans in advance for the following pathetic display of sour grapes.

Whinge 1. We never seem to get any breaks against ICT. This has been the case for as long as I can remember. One of the reasons I can't remember when we last beat them. Most of the contentious decisions seem to go in their favour, and tonight was no exception.  In past years they've obviously had far superior teams to us. The 0-7  and 7-3 results springs to mind. I also remember being 3-0 up at half time in a cup tie in Inverness and thinking at last we'd cracked it. Foolish of course. We still managed to lose 4-3.

But this year there doesn't seem to be that much between the teams, yet we've lost 4 out of 5 and drawn the other. You get the impression that if we played them 100 times we might just win once. It's illogical really, but there might be some truth in the concept of a bogey team. I'd rather have faced Dundee United in this round as we seem to be something of a bogey team for them this season, having 3 wins and 1 defeat and 9-2 aggregate score in our favour.

Whinge 2. Second goal is clearly offside (highlights about 1.59). The officials even had the edge of the box to help them and still got it wrong. The ICT guy has a foot inside the box and no Ayr player has. Easy decision, crap officiating.  Ref's well up with play and has a clear view of all 4 Ayr players involved, none of whom are playing the scorer onside. The linesman is up with play and looking right along the edge of the box. You would have thought one of them would have got it right.  Where do they get these guys?  Perhaps some ICT fans might like to comment on this as they were more or less in line with play at the crucial moment.  I know officials make crap decisions all the time, but in a game of this magnitude it can literally spoil a whole season's effort for a team, so it's harder to take when it goes against you.. 

Whinge 3. The penalty looked extremely soft (highlights about 5.22).  The ref had a good view and had to decide if Kerr's feather light touch on the forward's back was enough to justify the dying swan act he put on when he realised he couldn't get over the ball and headed it straight up in the air instead.   Some refs would give it some wouldn't, and again we got no favours from this numpty. Thanks again ref.  One of those incidents that happen many, many  times in every game, and using this clown's interpretation would lead to about 10 penalties a game. He could have given Ayr a penalty for a similar but more forceful coming together later on between Shankland and an ICT defender who basically just jumped straight into him as he was attempting a header ( highlights about 6.10).   It would have been  softish but, as they say, I've seen them given.  A bit of consistency would not go amiss. 

Having had my rant against the ref, there is also the uncomfortable fact that we just can't seem to handle ICT's style of play which is crude but very effective. Fill your team with giants and simply keep hoofing the ball up front and hope to get something from the second balls. Works a treat, but reduces football to a rather basic level.  Ross county use similar tactics at times, and I can't remember the last time we beat them either. I've never seen two teams with so many huge players. Where do they get all these giants ? Is it mandatory that you have to be over 6 ft to get on the books of highland teams?  And why is it other teams seem capable of handling this style of play but we can't.  Answers on a postcard. 

Having said that, we indulged in a fair bit of hoofball ourselves. God knows why since there was very little chance of our forwards winning the ball against giant defenders. Ludicrous tactics. When we did decide to actually play some football we got some joy. Having got our first goal during such a spell, I fully expected us to equalise as we had them rattled at that time   Then it all fizzled out once the ref gave them the benefit of the doubt with that supersoft  penalty. 

Don't know whether Robertson was just being diplomatic or rightly trying to obviate any possible complacency in ICT players, but  the tie certainly isn't over yet. (That's the heart speaking, the head thinks it probably is).  However, both teams seem to play better away and we are due a win. I think we've had 1 in the last 16 games against ICT. Surely by the sodding law of averages we'll win some time.  If we lose the first goal it will be all over, but get it and we're capable of winning the tie.  Might take a Tannadice 5-0 type performance though, which is highly unlikely given our current form.  Alternatively, a  few decisions going our way would help. What about a couple of highly dubious penalties for us and perhaps a nice  softish red card for ICT, preferably after about 10 minutes. A couple of  ICT OGs wouldn't go amiss either.  Words like straws and clutching spring to mind here. 

[TheScarf]

We get it, we have 3 or 4 guys over 6 foot.  

Its sign of a good manager when he plays the tactics best suited to the players he has. And the sign of a bad one who has no plan B..... 

[Gareth]

Don’t think there’s much between the two teams so it’s a shame we’re not within a goal going into the next one.

In fairness to Caley they could use their height advantage a lot more than what they do. They try and play football and to pass through teams. Dominated us aerially where it mattered (apart from our goal).

McCowan definitely added some energy and drive. Moffat and Shankland shadows of what we’ve seen earlier in season.

[Savage Henry]

Shankland is both still not fit and dialling it in. Wonder if McCall has the balls to drop him for the second leg?

[itzdrk]

3 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

Shankland is both still not fit and dialling it in. Wonder if McCall has the balls to drop him for the second leg?

Usually you would wonder, but he has run all the players into the ground by playing everyone through injuries until they can no longer play anymore so there is no real replacement.  

[sophia]

6 hours ago, wuffster said:

 

The last act was quite a funny one!

[munro7]

Aye, that offside decision is very poor. Given he’s in the box and no defenders are should make it easy for the linesman.
Penalty’s very soft, that happens all the time and nothing’s given. Indeed it pretty much happened to Shankland at the other end and we got hee haw.
Boy should have seen red at the end too.
Can’t see us turning this around on Saturday but you never know!

[Muzza81]

Are people watching a different clip to me? On my phone it looks impossible to tell whether he’s on or of but a lot of people seem convinced? 

[Staggie52]

2 minutes ago, Muzza81 said:

Are people watching a different clip to me? On my phone it looks impossible to tell whether he’s on or of but a lot of people seem convinced? 

A lot of Ayr fans,  it’s almost impossible to make a definite decision based on that camera angle. Don’t get me wrong if it was County I’d be shouting for it, but I’d also be shouting at defenders allowing him through and not playing to the whistle.