Ayr 32-Gala 0 (h/t 3-0)

It was Ladies Day at Millbrae and the sight of a bevy of females whooping it up in the clubhouse prompted one home fan to comment at half time that there was another bunch of big lassies on the park-and they weren't the ones wearing maroon jerseys!

Of course there is a high level of expectation at Millbrae given the outstanding achievements over the past seasons and when Ayr fall below their own standards, as they did massively on Saturday with a performance of abject complacency, they can expect the opprobrium of the support.

If there is such a thing as a cup tie approach then Gala had it in spades in this Scottish Hydro Premier Cup quarter final as they gave Ayr a real fight until they ran out of steam.

It should have been obvious to Ayr that the borderers were going to be no pushover when Gala didn't have a sniff of the ball for the first six minutes but prevented them from getting near their twenty two. Indeed had the normally reliable Graham Spiers not missed with a couple of penalties and Frazier Climo landed one from two, Gala could have turned round deservedly three points ahead.

Ayr squandered a ton of possession, literally launching the ball into space like a visually impaired NASA controller with awesome regularity and finding the feisty Gala back row with Steve Cairns in particular on hand to pounce on their errors. Opeta Palepoi was a handful for the Ayr pack who coughed up ball constantly and a couple of nifty moves involving the Lees-full back Miller and center Kibble - were only ended by last ditch tackles.

Having complacently dug a hole for themselves, Ayr could find no way of extricating themselves for sixty minutes and as the game wore on panic seemed to spread through the side in extraordinary fashion given that the only senior player missing was skipper Damien Kelly. Individually, players delivered what was expected most of the time but collectively they lacked, in football terms, someone to put their foot on the ball. The pack were disjointed, the half back link stuttered and as a result the midfield were on the back foot and prey to the maroon predators.

It took Ayr until the final quarter to establish any superiority after a move set up and completed by Pinewood Restaurant man of the match Jonny McClung had edged them to 8-0 ahead but tries by Gibson Siwo on sixty minutes and a typical solo effort from Climo with ten minutes to go took the match away from the game borderers. Even then they had their chances and a try for hooker Mike Christie, scrum half Ian Ross or No 8 Graeme Bryce, all of who had serious dips at the Ayr line, would not have flattered Gala.

Ayr turned to the power of the pack in the final five minutes and two identical tries from driving mauls claimed by Jono Crossan skewed the scoreline a bit too much after a splendid effort by the visitors which belied their position in Premier 2 and ran Ayr a lot closer than more vaunted opposition this season.

"It was a really lack lustre performance" admitted coach Kenny Murray " and were nowhere near as clinical as we should have been. Not playing last week didn't help and we lost some of the momentum which had built up but we should still have been a lot better than we were."

"I told the players at half time that the only thing that we could take from the first half was that we weren't behind and all credit to Gala, they came with the right attitude and we didn't respond well until late in the game. We gave ourselves problems by not getting over the gain line and having to play too much rugby on the back foot, our decision making at the line out was poor but overall we got a reasonable result but we would have expected to be more dominant against a side from Premier 2."

The Cup has seen some of Ayr's poorest performances as anyone who witnessed the debacle against BIggar at Millbrae a few seasons ago will testify but now it is semi-final time and the draw was as good as Ayr could have wished.

A home tie on Saturday against Heriots (ko 3pm) with Currie travelling to the Greenyards to face Melrose in the other semi. All sorts of factors kick into make the Millbrae semi a fascinating prospect.

The tie throws together Scotland's two representatives in the British and Irish Cup, Ayr winning two matches out of five and Heriots none while in their previous meeting in the opening match of the Premier 1 season at home, Ayr won 37-21 and of course there was that acrimonious quarter final meeting a couple of seasons ago at Millbrae when Ayr succumbed to the Goldenacre mind games and the Heriots victory prompted the resignation of the then Ayr coach Craig Redpath.

"We would have been happy to face any of the three sides left in the cup in a home tie and that has worked for us and it will be a terrific match against a much improved Heriots side" said Kenny Murray. "It is a fantastic draw" agreed Ayr Director of Rugby Jock Craig "and it is there for the team if they are up for it."

On top of all that, Heriots are the cup holders and will not readily give up the chance of appearing at Murrayfield on April 24th on Finals Day for the third year in succession so there is only one place to be next Saturday to get behind the Scottish champions for what possibly could be the next big step towards an incredible cup and league double. Ayr could have Ross Curle and Grant Anderson back in contention after their stint in the Southern hemisphere with the Scotland Sevens squad and Stephen Adair, who was stretchered off after a bad bang on the leg, may also have recovered in time for the semi-final thanks to the ministrations of Ayr's splendid physio and medical back up.

Teams

Ayr: A Wilson; C Taylor, J McClung, M Stewart, S Manning; F Climo, J Hunter; G Reid, S Adair, S Fenwick, S Sutherland, G Tippett, J Crossan, A Dunlop, P Burke Subs G Sykes (for Adair in 60) G Siwo (for Burke 30-45, for Wilson 55) B McPherson(for Burke 66), D Steele (for Manning 6)

Referee Andy McPherson (SRU)