| Date | Saturday, 11 August 2001 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ayr United 2:0 Ross County |
| Venue | Somerset Park |
| Attendance | 2,457 |
| Referee | Hugh Dallas |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Scott Macnab for the Press & Journal. Ayr United 2 Ross County 0 Ross County boss Neale Cooper has warned his faltering backline to get their act together fast or face being dropped. The former Don was furious after defensive mistakes condemned his side to defeat at First Division pacesetters Ayr United on Saturday. The setback capped a miserable start to the season for County, who have now gone down to back-to-back defeats in their opening First Division matches. After Saturday's reverse Cooper said: "Its a disappointing start and things have got to change at the back. "We were holding our own until we made two mistakes and Ayr just killed us. I can't fault the lads for effort and up front and in the mid field we did very well. "But they had four shots at goal and scored twice. The guys at the back have got to sort it out. "We've got Richard Hastings to come in and improve things for us. "I thought Steve McKay had an excellent match and there was nothing between the sides in the first half-hour but one slip and we loose a goal and we're chasing the game. That can't go on." Centre half, Ian Maxwell was County's chief culprit as his mistakes allowed Eddie Annand to grab a match winning double. The first came in the 34th minute when Maxwell misjudged a looping cross from David Craig, allowing Annand to collect inside the box and despatch a right foot effort beyond Kevin Bullock. Ayr could have been 2-0 ahead two minutes after the break when former Caley Jags star Paul Sheerin flashed a powerful left-foot shot just wide. They did double their lead on the hour with a marvellous strike from Annand, who was given space to turn and flight a superb left-foot curling effort into the top right-hand corner. And only the woodwork prevented United scoring again the 75th minute when substitute John Bradford's left-foot drive rattled off a post. Ayr boss Gordon Dalziel was delighted after watching his men record their third straight win of the new season. He said: "We've come through tree very hard matches against St Mirren, Falkirk and Ross County. "We've picked up six points and got into the next round of the Challenge Cup. Any manager has to be happy with that." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Hugh Robertson, 3: Mark Perry, 4: Ian Maxwell, 5: Brian Irvine, 6: Steven Ferguson, 7: John Fraser, 8: Steven MacKay, 9: Derek Holmes, 10: Martin Prest, 11: John McQuade |
| Bench | 0: Stefan Gonet, 0: Sean Webb, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Mark McCormick, 0: Steven Hislop |
| Ayr United | |
| Manager | Gordon Dalziel |
| Starting 11 | Neil Duffy, Craig Nelson, David Craig, John Robertson, Paul Lovering, John Hughes 1, Marvyn Wilson, Paul Sheerin, Gary Teale, Pat McGinlay, Eddie Annand 2 |
| Bench | John Dodds, Craig McEwan, Lee Sharp, Neil Scally, John Bradford |