Match Preview/Thread - Ayr United vs Morton (9th April)

[TopCat]

We really lack a creative spark without Wilson and Strapp. Everything just looks ragged.

Hopefully we can get those two up to speed for the last few games and get as much prize money in the pot as possible. It'll likely be 10 full time teams in the league next season, every penny is a prisoner now.

[Alibi]

Toothless. Mullen saved us there.

[SpoonTon]

Strapp's a big miss but good to see Wilson back on the pitch. Oakley was struggling with his shoulder all night. Those three were so important in our unbeaten run and we just haven't managed to get them all on the pitch and fit recently. 

We've got a number of players who have generally had good seasons who just haven't been at their best recently. I suspect the likes of Blues, Crawford, and Muirhead are just a bit leggy at this stage of the season, having played so many minutes without quality in depth to replace them. 

Not the worst result but Mullen and the crossbar got us the point tonight. The middle hour or so we just looked a bit off it. 

[AyrshireTon]

Agree - without Mullen we'd have lost that. We switched off after going ahead and really only got going again in the last five minutes.

Bit disappointed to hear Mullen being told to slow down in the final moments rather than getting to his feet and get the ball up the park.

[GiGi]

We've made a right old arse of it since being 7 points clear in the playoffs 8 games ago. 5/24 points since then and now we're 7 points off it.

Would say at least half the squad don't deserve to be here next season.

[DumfriesTon]

That was shocking. Lucky to get away with a point in the end. No composure at all in midfield and we didn't win a 2nd ball all game. 

We were decent for the first 20 minutes with Garrity doing well but after it was appalling. 

Playoffs are gone now and I reckon with 6 points ahead of Inverness and effectively Queen's Park (with their goal difference) we should be safe from 9th, especially with those two playing each other at the weekend. A real disappointing end to the season considering where we were after the home game v Airdrie. Wouldn't go as far as say we've bottled it but that's two seasons in a row now under Imrie we've got into a good position and not kicked on.

We're a pretty terrible team to watch in general and nothing tonight changed my mind in terms of this squad needing a bit of an overhaul and restart next season. 

[Drew Busby's Moustache]

2 hours ago, RossMcC1874 said:

A point was probably a fair result judging by what I saw on stream. 

With Airdrie winning I would say the playoffs are now really unlikely, same long ball for most of the game pretty awful to watch it's not even that effective at the moment but I can't see Imrie changing. 

Pretty much just between 5th and 8th now you would imagine, again after such a promising start to the season as usually giving up towards the end. 

We had anything BUT a promising start to the season.

[shagster]

Another season with the players switching off early just like the Jim Duffy years. Dropping league positions is going to cost again for next season's budget. How many players are actually under contract for next season?

[vikingTON]

3 hours ago, AyrshireTon said:

Agree - without Mullen we'd have lost that. 

Bit disappointed to hear Mullen being told to slow down in the final moments rather than getting to his feet and get the ball up the park.

Why were you disappointed with the latter, given your own pessimistic assessment of the balance of the game? 

Perhaps if we hadn't coughed up stupid defeat after stupid defeat from similar scenarios in recent weeks, then a draw at Ayr would be consolidating a play-off spot rather than just our current league status (both against 9th and dropping further down the table). 

[dunning1874]

I can't help going back to Imrie's comment after the Queen's Park game that Bearne "only played for 45 minutes." I think that was actually a really harsh criticism and he was still one of our better players in that second half despite not being as good as the first, but take it at face value anyway.

I fully appreciate that established first team players have credit in the bank, they've earned leeway for poor form that young players still trying to prove they're good enough for this level haven't, and Imrie setting high standards for those players to keep improving after good performances is a good thing. There comes a point though where those high standards can start looking like a double standard when they just aren't applied to others.

So against Queen's Park Bearne is our best player. He follows that up with with the Airdrie game where, like every other attacking player, he does absolutely fuck all. That's him dropped again and he doesn't even get off the bench last night, despite us not using our full complement of subs: one poor performance in a game where literally no Morton player got pass marks and that's him bombed right back to the bottom of the pecking order.

Accepting the premise that he was only good for 45 minutes in that Queen's Park game, compare and contrast with established first team regulars. When was the last time Robbie Crawford had a good 45 minutes? Airdrie at home, 24th February? When was the last time Robbie Muirhead had a good 45 minutes? Dunfermline away, 3rd February?

Again, those players both have credit in the bank for what they've contributed earlier in the season, and particularly with Muirhead there's the point that even when he's playing badly he can pop up with goals out of nowhere, as he did against Partick and Queen's Park in our last five games. There comes a point though where they just are not delivering, and both keep their places no matter how consistently poor they've been.

At least last night Crawford was finally subbed while having another poor game, but Muirhead getting 90 minutes was baffling. Garrity had put in an excellent set-piece delivery for our goal, on a night where the ball was rarely getting into wingers' feet with how poor the distribution from the back four was he was picking it up and driving at their defence at every opportunity, winning more freekicks in dangerous areas and at least earning throw-ins or checking back and retaining possession in situations where he didn't find the space to beat his man.

Muirhead on the other hand just wasn't in the game at all. On the one single occasion prior to our first subs being made that he managed to get on the ball in the final third without losing it instantly by dawdling into a tackle, he dribbled to edge of the box and had an opportunity to swing a ball in where we had three runners all looking for it. He decided to hit a shot instead, which he lashed wildly over the bar to the point it was closer to leaving the stadium than hitting the target. That's the sort of abysmal decision making in the final third that Bearne, Garrity and McGrattan have all quite rightly been criticised for, and you generally see them subbed promptly if they do something that selfish when they're in the starting XI. Yet the subs come and Garrity's off while Muirhead keeps his place on the park, and even as Bearne gets splinters in his arse no improvement on Muirhead's performance sees no change. No player should be unsubbable and particularly not one playing that badly.

McGrattan got his couple of chances to start in recent weeks against Inverness and Dunfermline and was terrible in both of them so can have no complaints about finding himself back out of the team as a result. Garrity and Bearne however have actually played well more often than not when given starts, but Garrity has had no consecutive starts all season while Queen's Park & Airdrie was the first time Bearne has. Crawford and Muirhead however can turn in McGrattan v Dunfermline level performances every week - Muirhead was even worse than him in that game - and their places are never under threat.

Garrity and Bearne have been our best attacking players since the start of March, pick them.

[SpoonTon]

I thought, after a bright enough start and a good ball in for the goal, Garrity couldn't make an impact at all. I actually found it a bit frustrating watching him struggling to get a foothold in the game. I get the criticism that he's not physical enough. He's a talented player but we improved when Jai came on. I don't think he can complain about being subbed. Neither could have anyone else, and that's the problem at the moment. 

[AyrshireTon]

6 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Why were you disappointed with the latter, given your own pessimistic assessment of the balance of the game? 

Perhaps if we hadn't coughed up stupid defeat after stupid defeat from similar scenarios in recent weeks, then a draw at Ayr would be consolidating a play-off spot rather than just our current league status (both against 9th and dropping further down the table). 

Because at that point we were looking the better side, albeit we’d left it late. A winner was a possibility in a game where we ought to have been behind, yet rather that go for it, Mullen was told to hold onto it. The guy in front of me absolutely lost it at Imrie for that.

[Doddie]

10 hours ago, shagster said:

Another season with the players switching off early just like the Jim Duffy years. Dropping league positions is going to cost again for next season's budget. How many players are actually under contract for next season?

As it stands I’m sure it’s Mullen, Baird, Wilson, King, O’Boy and Davies 

[dunning1874]

4 minutes ago, Doddie said:

As it stands I’m sure it’s Mullen, Baird, Wilson, King, O’Boy and Davies 

Bearne as well.

[Scott]

23 minutes ago, dunning1874 said:

Bearne as well.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants out in the summer. Completely wasting his time here. I’d hoped we’d turned a corner with him getting a start and MOTM vs Queen’s Park but he appears to be the fall guy for Airdrie despite everyone being shite. 

[astuartm]

Strapp seems to be not mentioned anywhere, the same thing happened last season where he disappeared for the end of season matches. Our best games this season have been with him in the team. Is he injured or has there been a fall out with Imrie which I suspect happened last season.

[RossMcC1874]

Imrie said in a recent interview that strapp was injured, I don't see why that wouldn't be the case it wouldn't benefit strapp if he does want to move on to not play because of anything other than an injury. 

Looking at who is signed up for next season you would imagine that the ones who are out of contract a lot of them like Oakley, Muirhead, Crawford to name a few will be offered deals but whether or not they sign is a different matter. 

It will be an interesting summer to see what we can bring in and what the sort of game plan will be, the league I think next season will be even tougher than this season and we really need greater quality and depth over the whole squad. 

 

[Hej]

13 minutes ago, astuartm said:

Strapp seems to be not mentioned anywhere, the same thing happened last season where he disappeared for the end of season matches. Our best games this season have been with him in the team. Is he injured or has there been a fall out with Imrie which I suspect happened last season.

He was injured in the Dunfermline game 

[Jamie_M]

20 minutes ago, astuartm said:

the same thing happened last season where he disappeared for the end of season matches. 

Well, no, he didn't. He got injured last January and didn't throw a ball in anger for 11 months.

[HamCam]

On the face of it a point away to Ayr is a reasonable outcome, however, not getting a win contributes to the feeling, once again, we have shat the bed at the business end of the season.  Too many passengers in the squad and a lack of quality to adapt when things are not going our way.