Ayr United 3
Partick Thistle 1
League (Championship)


Ayr United
3 - 1
Partick Thistle 

League (Championship)
Friday, April 29th, 2022
Somerset Park
Attendance: 3,426

Goalscorers
Aaron Muirhead (pen.) (5)
Tomi Adeloye (30)
Aaron Muirhead (pen.) (61)
Alex Jakubiak (81)

Team Managers
Lee Bullen
Ian McCall

Starting Eleven
1. Aiden McAdams
4. Aaron Muirhead
5. Sean McGinty
15. Jack Baird
3. Patrick Reading
10. Daire O'Connor
8. Kerr McInroy
14. James Maxwell
31. Paul Smith
9. Tomi Adeloye
19. Sam Ashford
Jamie Sneddon .1
Richard Foster .2
Lewis Mayo .4
Ciaran McKenna .16
Tunji Akinola .18
Kyle Turner .6
Robbie Crawford .22
Ross Docherty .23
Kyle McAllister .37
Alex Jakubiak .10
Cammy Smith .11

Bench
21. Charlie Albinson
25. Finn Ecrepont
23. Markus Fjortoft
11. Alex Kenyon
16. Ryan Gondoh
22. Mark McKenzie
20. Michael Hewitt
30. Fraser Bryden
7. Michael Moffat
Andy Firth .13
Kevin Holt .3
Steven Bell .15
Stephen Hendrie .33
Stuart Bannigan .8
Ben Stanway .30
Connor Murray .17
Juan Alegria .25

Substitutions
Fraser Bryden for Sam Ashford (81)
Michael Moffat for Tomi Adeloye (81)
Mark McKenzie for James Maxwell (85)
Mark McKenzie for Daire O'Connor (85)
Stuart Bannigan for Kyle Turner (14)
Kevin Holt for Kyle McAllister (41)
Stephen Hendrie for Lewis Mayo (46)
Juan Alegria for Cammy Smith (66)
Steven Bell for Richard Foster (66)

Cautions
None. Ross Docherty (26)
Richard Foster (29)

Red Cards
None. None.
Match Officials

Bobby Madden (Referee)
Sean Carr & Graham McNeillie (Assistants)




Photography by Dave Sargent

Match Report


Ayr United secured Scottish Championship football next season as Partick Thistle sealed a promotion play-off quarter-final despite defeat.

Former Thistle striker Aaron Muirhead scored two penalties either side of a Tomi Adeloye header through goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon's legs.

Alex Jakubiak's reply came too late to spark a Thistle comeback.

Ayr finish eighth, four points ahead of Dunfermline, to avoid a relegation play-off, while Thistle stay in fourth.

Dunfermline needed to better Ayr's result to overtake them but lost at home to Queen of the South despite taking an early lead shortly before Muirhead's opener at Somerset Park sent Ayr on their way to ending a run of seven home games without a victory.

There needed to be an eight-goal swing for Raith Rovers to overtake Thistle with victory and the Kirkcaldy side also fell short after their 1-1 draw with champions Kilmarnock.

Thistle, who were without manager Ian McCall through illness and who rested five players, host Inverness Caledonian Thistle in Tuesday's first leg for the right to face Arbroath in the Premiership promotion play-off semi-final.

Ayr United manager Lee Bullen: "I'm just disappointed we lost that goal as I would have loved the lads to get that clean sheet, but let's not cry over spilt milk - it was a brilliant performance and such a big win for the club.

"They deserve a lot of credit because there's a lot of mental strength needed, and mental tiredness in that sort of thing, to control emotions."

Partick Thistle assistant manager Alan Archibald: "It wasn't good enough. We started really poorly and it was stop-start with the couple of early injuries that didn't help.

"The team will be different on Tuesday, no doubt about it, and we'll reset and be ready to go. Ayr had everything to play for, we had a couple of guys playing with illnesses on top of the injuries and it obviously played its part."

Match report written by BBC



Squad Statistics (as at April 29th, 2022)


2021-22 All Time
Age
Aiden McAdams (GK)23 32 - 32 -
Jack Baird26 331672
Sean McGinty28 351351
Aaron Muirhead31 3541049
Patrick Reading22 412653
James Maxwell20 376376
Kerr McInroy21 142142
Daire O'Connor25 252252
Sam Ashford26 132132
Tomi Adeloye26 38143814
Paul Smith20 6 - 9 -
Mark McKenzie (sub)21 352734
Mark McKenzie (sub)21 352734
Michael Moffat (sub)37 201331102
Fraser Bryden (sub)17 121121






League Table (as at April 29th, 2022)


Pld W D L Pts
1. Kilmarnock 36 20 7 9 67
2. Arbroath 36 17 14 5 65
3. ICT 36 16 11 9 59
4. Partick Thistle 36 14 10 12 52
5. Raith Rovers 36 12 14 10 50
6. Hamilton Academical 36 10 12 14 42
7. Morton 36 9 13 14 40
8. Ayr United 36 9 12 15 39
9. Dunfermline At 36 7 14 15 35
10. Queen of the South 36 8 9 19 33