It was back to cup action for Peterhead this week as they made the 436 mile round trip to face Ayr United.
The Honest Men were flying high in second place in the Scottish Championship and knocked out Raith Rovers in the previous round, whilst Peterhead progressed in the competition by defeating League 1 outfit Dumbarton.
There were seven changes to the Peterhead line up with Blessing Oluyemi, David Wilson, Scott Ross, Danny Strachan, Jack Brown, Seb Ross and Ben Armour replacing Stuart McKenzie, Jason Brown, Ryan Strachan, Jordan Armstrong, Max Barry, Cammy Smith and Rory McAllister.
It was a confident start from the Blue Toon as they really took the game to Ayr, forcing several corners and dangerous free kicks but the only effort of note was a long ranged strike from Dylan Forrest, which was just wide of the target. Ayr rode the storm and began to dominate the rest of the half – efforts from Ben Dempsey and Mark McKenzie tested Oluyemi while Jamie Murphy fired over the bar from a tight angle. However, Murphy’s next effort on goal took a large deflection off Peter Pawlett and sailed into the back of the net, completely wrong footing Oluyemi. Dempsey had the last chance of the half to extend the Ayr lead, but his shot following a clever corner routine went wide of the target.
Half Time: Ayr United 1-0 Peterhead
Peterhead once again started brightly – Max Barry, a half time substitute, had a cross which Ayr keeper Harry Stone nearly fumbled into his own net, then Jack Brown’s effort was once again spilt by Stone but he recovered well to deny Armour on the follow up. A killer blow was then dealt Peterhead’s way as Ayr United doubled their advantage. Some good play from Jay Henderson down the right allowed him the time and space to cut the ball back to Ethan Walker, who slotted the ball past Oluyemi.
The Blue Toon made a double change in the 61st minute and the two subs combined seconds later to halve the deficit. Kieran Shanks made some space in the middle of the box and he cut the ball back to Smith who fired low and under Stone, with the ball narrowly sneaking over the line. Peterhead looked to keep up the pressure on the Ayr defence and nearly found themselves an equaliser soon after the goal. Jack Brown did extremely well to hunt down a stray pass and made a fantastic tackle, Cieran Dunne picked up the loose ball and played in Smith and he forced another spill from the Ayr keeper but Nick McAllister made a last ditch effort to deny Pawlett the opportunity to put the ball into an empty net. Ayr had chances to kill the game off through Henderson and Jake Hastie but neither could find the target before a guilt edged chance at the other end nearly levelled the game for the Blue Toon. Dunne delivered a great ball into Shanks but he volleyed over the bar from 12 yards. The final chance of the game fell the way of Ayr but Henderson was thwarted by a brilliant stop from Oluyemi.
Full Time: Ayr United 2-1 Peterhead (Murphy 34’, Walker 53’; Smith 62’)
Starting XI: Oluyemi, Strachan, Wilson (McAllister 86’), Scott Ross, Goldie, Dunne, Pawlett (Jordon Brown 86’), Forrest (Barry 45’), Jack Brown, Seb Ross (Smith 62’), Armour (Shanks 62’)
