The First Pre-Season Defeat For The New Saints, With Ayr United Securing The Victory At Townhead Park

Match Report

Ayr United 1 The New Saints FC 0

Match report by Stewart Bloor

The final instalment of the four-day visit to Scotland saw The New Saints taking on Scottish Championship side, Ayr United, at Townhead Park.

A strong starting line-up saw Harrison, Marriott, Davies (K), Routledge, Ebbe, Brobbel, McManus, Redmond, Astles, Clark and Davies (D) take to the field.

The bench consisted of Roberts, Williams (T), Daykin, Robles, Warder, Bradford and Canavan.

The friendly, played behind closed doors, saw the first chance go the way of the visitors, as the Ayr ‘keeper pulled off a good save from Danny Davies.

In the eighth minute, a quality shot from distance took a deflection, as Jon Routledge’s attempt ended up in the arms of the trialist goalkeeper.

The early TNS dominance was reflected by the fact that we were in the 14th minute before Paul Harrison touched the ball – and that was to retrieve it from behind the line to take a goal-kick.

Dean Ebbe went close, as we approached the one-third stage, but his chip from the TNS left was just wide of the post.

As David Hopkin’s side got more into the game, they took the lead courtesy of a free-kick on the left in the 33rd minute, with Jack Baird getting the final touch.

The one goal was all that separated the teams at the break.

The New Saints continued to push for the equaliser, with Ryan Brobbel firing wide and Ben Clark shooting over.

At the other end, Harrison did well getting down to his right to deny The Honest Men a second goal, as we entered the final third of the game.

In the 80th minute, a free-kick resulting from a foul on Danny Redmond, saw the Ayr defence do their job as they cleared the danger.

The New Saints continued to enjoy possession but couldn’t convert that into a goal. As the referee blew his whistle for the final time, Anthony Limbrick’s side experienced their first defeat in the pre-season campaign.

Lead image courtesy of Calum Campbell.