Livi v Ayr

We need to win this game to go top of the group (for a day anyway as Accies play City on Wed), after the rsults today the group has tightened right up. It is wide open for first place now.

I'll go for us nicking it 2-1, fg 37 mins.

Win this and, assuming Hamilton beat Edinburgh, we go into the last game with 4 of us on 6 points, and Ayr with no games left. This group stage malarky could end up providing an entertaining end.

Not sure what to make of them. They beat Hamilton (before they got their act together), and held St Mirren until the 90th minute (sounds like they were very negative), and only getting 1 goal against Edinburgh isn't that impressive (though it might have been a case of a win's a win, and trying to keep fit rather than going for it).

Think we can beat them if we play well, sounds like going forward is our strong point and it'll need to be if they can defend well.

1-1, FG 27 mins. Livi to get the bonus point.

I'm a bit more optimistic going into games against stuffy defensive teams, we're def using our wings a lot better and are opening teams up with balls whipped into the box from the wings. Both Mullin and Cadden are scoring goals too which is great to see. Cadden will be out but I still think we've got plenty of threat from Mullin.

That's 2 games we've kept a clean sheet too with our 0-0 draw against Hartlepool today, so we're not just throwing caution to the wind with an all out attacking style.

Ayr usually give us a hard time, I foresee a good Livi performance undone by Ayr nicking it 1-0 late on.

FG 84 mins

How long is Cadden out for? Hopefully he won't miss much of the league season..

Read he may be back for the Accies game on Sat, will def be ok to play for the Stranraer game though.

A lot of momentum will be built for the game against Hamilton if we win tonight which I can see us doing. Plus, it would make a real statement of intent if we can beat a team in the league above us even if it is a part-time team.

2-0 Livingston victory. FG 51 mins.

A win would set us up for an exciting final group game against Accies, we'd maybe take a decent support to that game too if we had something to play for. It would also set us up nicely for the league opener against Stranraer, and encourage more fans down to that home game on the back of the publicity we'd generate. Getting a bit ahead of myself right enough, we have to win the game first before thinking of those things.

Mon Livi, a lot to play for here, get right in about them.

Aye, 2 games in to competitive football, one decent performance albeit in defeat and one comfortable win and all of a sudden we are considering what winning a game will mean for us.... Couldn't make it tonight, work prevented it, but by the look of it, I was the lucky one.

Saw Hoppy quoted in the paper saying how a win would set up a winner take all match against Hamilton.... Did no one remember that Ayr were the second best side in their division last season and got promoted? Our team is now predominantly made up of guys who played in worse teams than Ayr last season, so at what point did we ever become favourites for this tie?

Disappointed, we looked the better team for the 25mins then went to pot.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Aye, 2 games in to competitive football, one decent performance albeit in defeat and one comfortable win and all of a sudden we are considering what winning a game will mean for us.... Couldn't make it tonight, work prevented it, but by the look of it, I was the lucky one.

Saw Hoppy quoted in the paper saying how a win would set up a winner take all match against Hamilton.... Did no one remember that Ayr were the second best side in their division last season and got promoted? Our team is now predominantly made up of guys who played in worse teams than Ayr last season, so at what point did we ever become favourites for this tie?

As one who was actually there I can say we were certainly the better team in the first half going in one nil down to a 35 yard screamer which came out of nothing. Ayr were aimless losing out to almost every ball. They did however have a fairly effective strategy of crowning out players in the box which, as they were head and shoulders above the like of Mullen, was reasonably effective.

When they miss-out and Mullen was through on goal he was blatantly hauled down for which the Ayr man received a yellow and conceded a free kick. By comparison the second half was a bit of a mess; being one goal down we took off a forward and brought on an injured winger; then took off a midfielder for a defensive midfielder and finally another forward (Mullen) for Knox who had really no chance against a pretty physical Ayr side. The amount of shirt holding etc was unbelievable - didn't someone tell them they can buy our strip in the club shop.

To be honesty we were our own worst enemy in the second half passing back rather than going forward and most throw-ins were back to the central defence or goalkeeper. All in all the second half was a more balanced affair with Ayr possibly shading it.

Over the last few weeks I've seen us play four championship sides; Dunfermline will probably finish the highest up the table closely followed by Morton. The best St Mirren can hope for is lower mid table but I'm pretty convinced the best Ayr can aim for is maybe ninth.

I refer to my prediction, I suggested Ayr would nick it 1-0 & by your account they nicked it 2-0.

Ayr are always a physical side & always resort to shirt pulling etc so clearly we have learned nothing when it comes to playing them. In the end it matters not who played the best, it matters only who scores the most

I expect LF will be on here shortly bemoaning the fact we have conceded yet another wonderstrike from distance.

Bertie Bassett wrote:I refer to my prediction, I suggested Ayr would nick it 1-0 & by your account they nicked it 2-0.

Ayr are always a physical side & always resort to shirt pulling etc so clearly we have learned nothing when it comes to playing them. In the end it matters not who played the best, it matters only who scores the most

I expect LF will be on here shortly bemoaning the fact we have conceded yet another wonderstrike from distance.

They weren't overly physical in the way that St Mirren were but also they weren't very good at anything other than moaning to the referee. Leastways St Mirren had a plan and stuck to it; whether I liked it or not it did work.

Just seen Dale Carrick's x-ray of his hand after getting trod on by and Ayr player - ouch!




Fair play the the guy for playing the remaining 25 minutes of the first half with that.

Bertie their first goal was worse than our usual poor defending allowing them time and space to have a volley/half volley from the edge of our box, this time we didn't put in a challenge or close him down at any time from him picking up the ball just inside our half to wandering 30 odd yards up the pitch till he got to within shooting range. We dropped off and marked players so he didn't have a pass he could make but forgot to actually go towards him and force him into doing something with the ball. Yes it was another wonder strike but FFS we keep inviting them to have a pop with no pressure on them, and all the time in the world to look up and pick their spot, and inevitably it goes flying in the top corner.

Tbf to Ayr they were pretty accurate with evry shot they had, they didn't have many right enough but they were all on target and but for a finger tip save they'd have had another one from distance in the top corner.

We started off well, controlled the game and did everything but score, when you're playing like that though and not scoring you always worry the other team will fire one in with their first effort. Ayr were falling down looking for fouls at every opportunity, the ref wasn't as vertically challenged though and wasn't falling for their play acting, it was that bad Iain Russell would've looked like an honest man in their team.

Just a pity the ref wasn't as astute to their fouling with blatant fouls and picking the ball up every time we got a foul to stop us taking the free kick, they even picked the ball up when one of their players went rolling about the ground trying for a foul and the ref didn't give them one, silly me, I thought that was a yellow card offence but nope, we just got a foul for Docherty bending down and picking up the ball in the middle of play to stop the game. They then did their falling down act and grabbed the ball again but nope, still no booking.

In summary Ayr were street wise with their falling down, grabbing shirts, tripping us to stop breaks up the pitch, picking up the ball and wandering away with it when we got fouls, anything to break up play and stop us getting any kind of flow going, and they were pretty damn clinical with their shots.

Apart from the first 20 mins i thought we allowed Ayr to bully us of the ball to many times for my liking.As has been said their first was a wonder strike but why did our players let their defender waltz through our ranks instead of closing him down and thus preventing him let loose a thunderbolt.Ive been saying for weeks that we are woefully short of hieght up front,last night was a classic example of what ive been on about.To easy for their defenders to mop up anything coming their way and also the slack passing albiet on a slippery surface didnt help our cause either.Ithink the less said about the ranting and and raving from Mcall last night the better.An embarresement to himself and his club.Hamilton up next in a meaningless game for us gives Hopkin the chance to maybe try something different and a wee chance to biuld up some kind of momentum before the big one on the 6th of August.Got to hit the ground running imo and make our intentions for the season ahead known to the rest!.