Ayr United 5
Airdrieonians 0
League (Championship)


Ayr United
5 - 0
Airdrieonians 

League (Championship)
Friday, August 9th, 2024
Somerset Park
Attendance: 2,857

Goalscorers
Jay Henderson (7)
George Oakley (24)
Jay Henderson (49)
Anton Dowds (56)
Anton Dowds (pen.) (77)
None.

Team Managers
Scott Brown
Rys McCabe

Starting Eleven
31. Harry Stone
14. George Stanger
3. Patrick Reading
4. Frankie Musonda
33. Scott McMann
23. Marcus Rus
15. Jamie Murphy
17. Jay Henderson
8. Ben Dempsey
7. Anton Dowds
9. George Oakley
1 (G) M Johnson
2 (D) D MacDonald
3 (D) M Hancock
5 (D) A Aidan Wilson
16 (D) C Watson (45)
6 (M) D McMaster
Yellow card 17 (M) L McGrattan (45)
Yellow card 22 (M) M Aiken (45)
24 (M) C Mochrie (69)
44 (M) R Armstrong (69)
7 (F) B Ben Wilson

Bench
38. Liam Russel
32. Dylan Watret
20. Roy Syla
24. Scott Tomlinson
2. Nick McAllister
24. Ethan Walker
22. Mark McKenzie
16. Jake Hastie
11. Fraser Bryden
30 (G) K Wright
14 (D) C Bruce (45)
26 (D) A Taylor-Sinclair
Yellow card 28 (D) T Agyemang (45)
4 (M) R McCabe
10 (M) A Frizzell (45)
18 (M) G Gallagher (69)
9 (F) A Reid (69)
21 (F) C Cooper

Substitutions
Jake Hastie for Jamie Murphy (68)
Ethan Walker for George Oakley (75)
Mark McKenzie for Jay Henderson (75)
Roy Syla for Marcus Rus (82)
Scott Tomlinson for Ben Dempsey (83)
None.

Cautions
George Stanger
None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Match Officials

Calum Scott (Referee)


Photography by SNS Group

Match Report


Ayr United put five past Scottish Championship rivals Airdrieonians in a wonderful display of attacking football, as Scott Brown's side continued their impressive start to the season.

Jay Henderson opened the scoring with a sharp turn and strike into the bottom corner from the edge of the box following a quick start to the game, and the visitors never recovered.

George Oakley swept home Frankie Musonda's cross to double Ayr's advantage, and they could have led by more in a first half where Airdrieonians goalkeeper Murray Johnson made several saves and Marco Rus hit the outside of the post.

The pattern of play continued after the break. Ayr carved out chances almost at will, playing with real tempo and pressing Airdrie high up the park.

Henderson slotted home his second goal of the night after good work from Rus down the left, before Anton Dowds capitalised on a Johnson error to put Ayr four up before the hour mark.

The impressive Rus then won a penalty after he was hacked down by Dylan MacDonald, and Dowds calmly converted to complete the rout.

Ayr lead the way at the top of the Championship before the rest of the weekend's action with two wins from two.

Ayr United manager Scott Brown: "I thought the lads did really well. Everything went inch-perfect for us.

"We have a good bunch of lads; it's showing on the park. They understand each other. We want to push this club as far as we can. There's a long way to go.

"We struggled with clean sheets last season. We've made a couple of changes for the better. We are aggressive, on the front foot, and we've got strength in depth, which helps."

Airdrieonians player-manager Rhys McCabe: "I thought we started very poorly. It's always hard to pick up momentum if you don't start well. Ayr from start to finish were the better side.

"I think we started the second half on the front foot, which sounds daft, but we had initiative. But then 15 seconds after a chance, we concede. We'll re-evaluate our performance and take it as a wake-up call."

Match report written by BBC



Squad Statistics (as at August 9th, 2024)


2024-25 All Time
Age
Harry Stone (GK)22 6 - 6 -
Scott McMann28 6 - 6 -
Frankie Musonda26 41565
Patrick Reading25 6 - 1493
George Stanger23 61403
Marcus Rus21 5151
Ben Dempsey24 5 - 8712
Jay Henderson22 6565
Jamie Murphy34 4 - 437
George Oakley28 6262
Anton Dowds27 653719
Roy Syla (sub)24 4 - 322
Scott Tomlinson (sub)18 4 - 22 -
Ethan Walker (sub)26 3 - 3 -
Mark McKenzie (sub)23 5 - 15913
Jake Hastie (sub)25 6161






League Table (as at August 9th, 2024)


Pld W D L Pts
1. Ayr United 2 2 0 0 6
2. Livingston 2 1 1 0 4
3. Falkirk 1 1 0 0 3
4. Airdrieonians 2 1 0 1 3
5. Morton 1 0 1 0 1
6. Partick Thistle 1 0 1 0 1
7. Queen's Park 2 0 1 1 1
8. Raith Rovers 1 0 0 1 0
9. Dunfermline Athletic 1 0 0 1 0
10. Hamilton Academical 1 0 0 1 0