Cove Rangers 0
Ayr United 3
Scottish Cup (Fourth Round)


Cove Rangers 

0 - 3

Ayr United


Scottish Cup (Fourth Round)
Tuesday, January 31st, 2023
Balmoral Stadium
Attendance: 433


Goalscorers
None. Mark McKenzie (23)
Dipo Akinyemi (68)
Sam Ashford (77)

Team Managers
Paul Hartley Lee Bullen

Starting Eleven
12 Fox
2 Logan
5 Ross
26 Reynolds
28 Paterson
11 McIntosh
16 Vigurs
15 McClelland
4 Scully
22 Dunne
9 Megginson
Aiden McAdams
Alex Kirk
Sean McGinty
Jordan Houston
Mark McKenzie
Nick McAllister
Ben Dempsey
Daire OConnor
David Bangala
Dipo Akinyemi
Sam Ashford

Bench
6 Neill
17 Longstaff
23 Gourlay
25 Glass
Charlie Albinson
Dylan Watret
Patrick Reading
Kinlay Bilham
Jayden Mitchell-Lawson
Josh Mullin
Paul Smith
Fraser Bryden

Substitutions
28 Paterson for Longstaff 76'minutes
16 Vigurs for Glass 85'minutes
Patrick Reading for Nick McAllister (32)
Paul Smith for Ben Dempsey (76)
Fraser Bryden for Dipo Akinyemi (76)
Kinlay Bilham for Patrick Reading (85)
Dylan Watret for Sam Ashford (85)

Cautions
Logan
Ross
Scully
Vigurs
Patrick Reading
Sean McGinty
Sam Ashford
David Bangala

Red Cards
Megginson (58) None.

Match Officials

Steven Kirkland (Referee)



Match Report


Ayr United secured a Scottish Cup last-16 tie with League 2 Elgin City after a 3-0 win over 10-man Cove Rangers.

Ayr broke the deadlock midway through the first half when Mark McKenzie's deflected shot found the net.

Cove were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Mitch Megginson was a yellow card, then a red, in a minute for a dissent.

Dipo Akinyemi then netted from close range to double Ayr's lead, before Sam Ashford made it 3-0 with a low shot.

Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley: "I thought we were right in the game. First half, there wasn't a lot between the teams, we conceded a really poor goal and then I think the game changes when we go down to 10 men.

"If you are the captain, you have got to lead by example, and keep your head and keep your discipline. It doesn't matter what you think of the referee - keep your cool, keep your head , keep 11 players on the pitch. It is just a bad error."

Ayr United manager Lee Bullen: "We knew we were taking a little bit of a gamble with changing as many bodies as we did, but these lads that played all deserved the opportunity and a lot of them took it.

"I am not going to disrespect Elgin in any way whatsoever, we played them in the cup at the beginning of the season and drew with them."

Match report written by BBC



Squad Statistics (as at January 31st, 2023)


2022-23 All Time
Age
Aiden McAdams (GK) - 5 - 37 -
Jordan Houston23 1911001
Sean McGinty29 242593
Alex Kirk20 182182
Nick McAllister22 201331
Mark McKenzie22 274998
David Bangala25 8 - 8 -
Daire OConnor25 15 - 401
Ben Dempsey23 296366
Dipo Akinyemi25 29172917
Sam Ashford27 241373
Patrick Reading (sub)23 28 - 933
Dylan Watret (sub) - 2 - 2 -
Kinlay Bilham (sub)20 2 - 2 -
Fraser Bryden (sub)18 111232
Paul Smith (sub)20 14 - 23 -






League Table (as at January 31st, 2023)


Pld W D L Pts
1. Queen's Park 22 12 4 6 40
2. Ayr United 22 11 6 5 39
3. Dundee 21 11 5 5 38
4. Partick Thistle 22 10 3 9 33
5. ICT 22 8 7 7 31
6. Morton 21 8 6 7 30
7. Raith Rovers 23 8 6 9 30
8. Cove Rangers 22 5 7 10 22
9. Arbroath 23 4 9 10 21
10. Hamilton Academical 22 4 5 13 17