Ayr United 5
Falkirk 2
League (Championship)

Match Report

SCOTT BROWN hailed five star Ayr United for their Christmas cracker of a Somerset performance this afternoon.

The Honest Men ran riot against Falkirk to crank the Championship title race wide open again.
Ayr took full advantage of an eighth minute red card for Bairns centre half Luke Graham to batter the league leaders.

And Brown praised his team's killer instinct as sub Alfie Bavidge grabbed a brace in the sparkling show.

The boss said: "Falkirk are a fantastic team, you can see they’ve been together for a while.

“So for us to score five goals and dominate the way we did is brilliant. As soon as they went down to ten men we started to dominate. It's easy to say that but you have to earn the right to do that against a good team who want to go and press like they do - they’ve got lightning pace so we had to deal with that.

“When the other team does go down to ten men it does make it easier but I thought we dealt with their changes in formation. They’ve hit two shots on target and scored two goals which is a bit disappointing, but overall we've been very good."

Brown insisted ref David Dickinson was right to produce the red card so early in the game when Graham stuck out a hand 25 yards from goal with George Oakley bearing down behind him.
The gaffer said: “He has handballed it. George is getting to the ball and I think that’s why their boy panicked.

“The difference between this week and last week is the ref didn’t’ make it all about himself. He was calm and collected and the linesman was the same. You saw the reaction, none of the managers were running around shouting and screaming. That’s when you know a good referee form a poor referee.

“I’m delighted for Alfie to come on and score two goals because he’s been in an out. Strikers are judged on goals and he’s put himself in a position where I might need to have a decision to make for next week."

Ayr had to do without the injured Marco Rus who has suffered a hamstring strain and they were behind in just two minutes when Alfredo Agyeman crossed for Ross Maciver to bury from close range.

But the game erupted soon after when the Bairns were down to 10. Centre half Graham walked, leaving them to reorganise before the clock had reached double figures.

Ayr piled forward with the man advantage and Jamie Murphy hit the post as they dominated. Their pressure finally paid off when Connor McLennan headed home a wicked corner from Jay Henderson.

But Falkirk raced straight up the other end with a counter punch and Agyeman touched home a Sean Mackie cross to put them back in front.

An incredible spell of the game saw goals traded at either end and Ayr replied immediately with skipper Ben Dempsey lashing home a first time finish from 20 yards.

Then they hit the front before half time when another Henderson corner was too hot to handle for the Falkirk defence and Scott McMann rose to head home.

Brown tweaked things at the break, switching to a 4-4-2 and pulling Mikey Devlin who was on a first half booking.

On loan Aberdeen kid Bavidge came on to lead the line with Oakley and quickly took centre stage, stretching Ayr's lead on the hour with a close range finish.

And the Scotland under 19 striker rounded off a fine win when throwing himself at an inviting cross from fellow sub Nick McAllister to head home the fifth.

Falkirk boss John McGlynn said: "It's hard to say the red card was a game changer. It's just one of those days where the football Gods went against us and there's no point moaning about a refereeing decision."

Match report written by Ayrshire Post