Dunfermline Athletic 1
Ayr United 0
Scottish Cup (2nd Round Replay)

Match Report

Ayr United exited the Scottish Cup last night in the fourth round after a 1-0 loss to Dunfermline.

Having dominating the first half, a Ryan Thomson goal was all it took for The Pars to progress.

United grew into the game after conceding but it was a case of too little, too late for The Honest Men.

Ayr were unchanged from Saturday’s draw against the East End Park side, with McLaughlin and Lithgow the centre back pairing.

In the first half, Dunfermline were awarded 11 corners but failed to test David Hutton regularly.

Their best chance came after 23 minutes when Ryan Thomson found himself clean through on goal but Hutton was able to pull off a miraculous save.

dunfermline hutton

Ayr’s goalscoring opportunities were few and far between with Crawford scraping a drive past the post in the opening exchanges.

The second period then began in similar fashion to the first with Dunfermline pressing high up the pitch, winning corners.

After 57 minutes their pressure paid off when Whittle scampered down the wing before crossing to Thomson who rifled a header home beyond the despairing David Hutton.

dunfermlinegoal

Mark Roberts then fielded Alan Forrest and Craig Malcolm in an attempt to equalise, with the pair making a difference, adding a cutting edge to Ayr’s attacking forays.

With 68 minutes on the clock, Michael Moffat had his first chance of the game but he failed to direct his header on target, seeing the ball sail past the post.

Dunfermline were always looking to counter attack and Andy Geggan thought he’d scored his side’s second of the evening but was adjudged to be offside after following up a shot which was spilled by David Hutton.

With five minutes remaining, Ayr stormed forward and Moffat was presented with a golden chance. He switched the ball onto his left foot before slamming a shot goalwards that was well saved by Ryan Scully.

dunfermlinemoffchance

The result means it’s Dunfermline who will travel to Ibrox in the fifth round of the competition.

After the match, Mark Roberts said: “For 60 minutes they were banging on the door, had a lot of possession and were awarded a number of corners without causing us too many problems.

“Once they got the goal it was always going to be an uphill battle for us but we chucked everything at them in the last half an hour. However, it was probably too little too late.

“We spoke before the game about starting the match well but that never happened.

“You also need the rub of the green in games sometimes and we never had that. The ball was bouncing about the penalty box but it didn’t fall to an Ayr United player.

“Dunfermline deserved their victory but I’m disappointed we didn’t create much.”

Match report written by AUFC Online