Greenock Morton 1
Ayr United 3
League (Championship)
Morton |
1 - 3 |
Ayr United |
 |
League (Championship) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
| Crawford (29) |
Sam Ashford (7) Sean McGinty (34) Dipo Akinyemi (43) |
| Team Managers | |
| Dougie Imrie |
Lee Bullen |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
1 Schwake 23 Grimshaw 5 BairdBooked at 48mins 12 Ambrose 6 Waters 14 Crawford 8 Blues 9 Muirhead 30 Crawford 11 Miller 22 Oakley |
Charlie Albinson Patrick Reading Sean McGinty Frankie Musonda Jordan Houston Ben Dempsey Mark McKenzie Reece Mcalear Dipo Akinyemi Chris Maguire Sam Ashford |
| Bench | |
|
7 Roy 17 McGrattan 18 Garrity 20 Green 21 Gillespie 25 King |
Aiden McAdams Kinlay Bilham Alex Kirk Nick McAllister Michael Hewitt Fraser Bryden Paul Smith |
| Substitutions | |
|
11 Miller for Gillespie 63'minutes 14 Crawford for McGrattan 73'minutes |
Michael Hewitt for Sam Ashford (87) Paul Smith for Chris Maguire (94) |
| Cautions | |
|
Baird Waters Oakley |
Jordan Houston Ben Dempsey |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
Peter Stuart (Referee) |
Match Report
Ayr United revived their promotion bid by beating Morton for a first win in five Scottish Championship games.
Lee Bullen's men had taken just a point from the last 12 on offer, but roared back to form at Cappielow to replace Morton in the play-off spots.
Sam Ashford's close-range finish gave Ayr an early lead, with Robbie Crawford firing the leveller on the half hour.
However, the visitors pulled clear with goals from Sean McGinty and Dipo Akinyemi before the interval.
McGinty bulleted home a header from a corner before Akinyemi latched on to Chris Maguire's pass to score his 20th of the season.
Ashford and Mark McKenzie went close to extending the lead in a deserved win as Ayr moved up to third, five points off leaders Queen's Park and two above Morton.
Dougie Imrie's side drop to fifth after their six-match unbeaten run was halted.
Match report written by BBC
Squad Statistics (as at March 7th, 2023)
| 2022-23 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Charlie Albinson (GK) | 26 |
|
29 | - | 40 | - |
| Sean McGinty | 29 |
|
30 | 3 | 65 | 4 |
| Patrick Reading | 23 |
|
34 | - | 99 | 3 |
| Jordan Houston | 23 |
|
22 | 1 | 103 | 1 |
| Frankie Musonda | 25 |
|
20 | - | 20 | - |
| Reece Mcalear | 21 |
|
6 | - | 6 | - |
| Mark McKenzie | 22 |
|
33 | 4 | 105 | 8 |
| Ben Dempsey | 23 |
|
35 | 7 | 42 | 7 |
| Dipo Akinyemi | 25 |
|
35 | 21 | 35 | 21 |
| Sam Ashford | 27 |
|
29 | 2 | 42 | 4 |
| Chris Maguire | - |
|
3 | - | 3 | - |
| Michael Hewitt (sub) | 22 |
|
12 | - | 25 | - |
| Paul Smith (sub) | 20 |
|
18 | - | 27 | - |
League Table (as at March 7th, 2023)
| Pld | W | D | L | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Queen's Park | 27 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 48 |
| 2. | Dundee | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 46 |
| 3. | Ayr United | 27 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 43 |
| 4. | Morton | 27 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 41 |
| 5. | Partick Thistle | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 40 |
| 6. | ICT | 27 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 36 |
| 7. | Raith Rovers | 27 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 35 |
| 8. | Cove Rangers | 27 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 26 |
| 9. | Hamilton Academical | 27 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 25 |
| 10. | Arbroath | 27 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 24 |