Ayr United 2
East Fife 0
League (League One)

Match Report

nited saw 2013 out in style with a comfortable 2-0 victory over East Fife yesterday thanks to a Michael Moffat brace, taking his goal tally in the league up to 16.

After absorbing pressure from the East Fife forwards in the early part of the game, United struck, with Moffat scoring a goal either side of half time.

Ayr were unchanged from last week’s 1-0 victory over Forfar Athletic with Kyle McAusland keeping his place at right back.

East Fife were looking to bounce back after a 3-1 defeat to Brechin City in their last game, and they nearly took the lead when towering defender Joe Mbu thundered a strike goalwards which was blocked by Hutton.

The fifers terrorised Ayr early on and had the ball in the back of the net after Liam Buchanan prodded home from five yards but he was adjudged to have strayed offside.

Ayr had to respond and they did so when Anthony Marenghi unleashed a whipping drive that skipped wide of the target.

The midfielder then won a penalty when he was chopped down in the box after half an hour.

Moffat stepped up and saw his lackluster shot blocked before lashing home the rebound in front of the Ayr fans who positioned themselves behind the Railway End goal.

The goal gave Ayr the momentum required and they were close to making it 2-0 three minutes later when Kyle’s shot was blocked and Donald’s rebound smacked the side netting.

In the second half, Ayr continued from where they left off in the first period, peppering East Fife’s goal with shots.

After 51 minutes, Alan Lithgow let fly from 28 yards and saw the ball soar over the crossbar.

For the second home game in a row, the conditions were dismal but Ayr nearly took advantage of the wind when a McAusland cross hit the crossbar.

East Fife had a golden opportunity to edge their way back into proceedings when Pat Clarke capitalised on an Alan Lithgow mistake, finding himself clean through on goal but he slid the ball wide of the target.

United then made their opponents pay for their error after 68 minutes when Michael Moffat brought the ball down in the box before squaring up to shoot and rifling home.

After the match, Michael Moffat spoke exclusively to club journalist, Michael Lamont and said: “We were focussed on getting the victory today as we knew it would set us up nicely for the Stranraer game next week.

“We know if we can beat them we’ll go above them so we just need to keep winning and hope that a gap appears between fourth and fifth place.

“The weather wasn’t great but we knew the first goal would be important and we were pleased we scored it.

“It was a poor penalty but luckily enough it came back to me and I managed to hit it home.

“With my second goal, the goalkeeper kept diving so I had to hold onto it for a while until a gap appeared and I was glad to see it go in.

“Another positive is that we kept a clean sheet for the second game in a row.

“Recently, I’ve received lots of messages of support after what has happened and I’d like to thank everyone.

“I’ve seen everyone’s comments to me on Facebook and it means a lot.

“I was happy to score two goals as a thank you for the support.”

Match report written by AUFC Online