ABERDEEN safely negotiated the hurdle at which they fell in this competition last season – a midweek visit to a high-flying lower division club, to reach the third round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup.
And what will please manager Jimmy Calderwood is, without hitting the heights, they won at a canter against Brian Reid's Second Division pacesetters, who battled gamely but were out of their depth. The Dons, helped by a misfiring, mis-passing Ay
r midfield, dominated the first half in terms of both territory and possession, but took a long time to turn their dominance into a goal. Only five minutes' play remained before the interval when the visitors finally broke through.
There seemed little danger as Charlie Mulgrew played the ball into the United box from out on the left; the home defence, caught square, stopped, seemingly expecting an offside flag which never came and Chris Maguire slid in to prod the ball past Stephen Grindley from close range.
The visitors were worth their lead, they 'won' the half 4-1 on corners and came close on a handful of occasions. Ayr took fully half an hour to force their corner, while only a Ryan Stevenson shot, some six yards off-target, threatened to lift Bertrand Bossu out of spectator mode. Ayr came close in an up-tempo start to the second half. Bossu, under pressure from Martyn Campbell, dropped a 54th-minute corner, Ayr got a second chance but Campbell, unmarked at the back post, headed back across goal when it seemed easier to score and the ball ended up in Bossu's arms.
Two minutes later Jamie Smith could have tied things up, when Darren Mackie's superb through ball left him one-on-one with Grindley, but his shot came back off the post and United cleared.
Gary McDonald came close in 87 minutes, Grindley saving well, but this was an isolated moment of excitement as Aberdeen played out time for a victory which was more comfortable than the scoreline indicated.
Ayr United: Grindley, Dempsie, Easton, Walker, Campbell, Stevenson, Borris (Agnew, 77), Aitken, Prunty, Williams (Gormley, 77), Keenan. Subs not used: Stewart, McGowan, Weaver.
Aberdeen: Bossu, Mulgrew, Foster, McDonald, Considine, Mair, Smith, Kerr, Maguire (Wright, 77), Mackie (De Visscher, 81), Young. Subs not used: Langfield, Duff, Paton. Booked: Dempsie (73).
Referee: B Winter.
Attendance: 2,979.
The full article contains 404 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
