Ayr United 3
Kilmarnock 2
Friendly (Friendly)

Match Report

Ayr United boss Scott Brown heaped praise on his side after their 3-2 friendly victory over local rivals Kilmarnock - and challenged them to build on that as the competitive action gets underway.

The Honest Men host Falkirk in their League Cup opener on Tuesday night and will be going into that clash full of confidence following an impressive string of pre-season results.

They kept that going at Somerset Park in front of a crowd of over 3200 on Thursday evening.

They opened the scoring on 26 minutes in fortuitous style when George Stanger’s long-range effort slipped through Robby McCrorie.
ight minutes later they’d doubled their advantage with a fine goal from Marco Rus. The Romanian was played in behind the defence and rolled the ball into the far corner.

But Killie pegged one back before the interval when Brad Lyons expertly found the top corner after Kyle Vassell’s effort had been well saved by the onrushing Harry Stone.

An Anton Dowds penalty just after the hour mark had United back in control after Killie had started the second half brightly. Joe Wright was adjudged to have brought down George Oakley for the spot-kick.

A Robbie Deas header from a Fraser Murray delivery made the deficit a single goal, while Bruce Anderson went close to a leveller with a fine volley at the back post which cannoned back off the woodwork.

Afterwards, the gaffer said: “Kilmarnock brought a strong team and we competed well. We were calm, composed and dealt with their threat quite well.

“Now the hard work starts. You can’t go all the way through pre-season unbeaten and start to go into cup competitions expecting to get beat. You have to keep that winning mentality.”

He added: “There’s a togetherness at the club, whether it’s the kitman, the kitchen staff or the players, we all want the best for the club

Match report written by Ayrshire Post