Callum Kerr @ Dumbreck
This evening Ayr didn’t manage to muster a result on their trip up the M77 to face Cartha Queens Park at Dumbreck. In a scrappy war of attrition, neither side covered themselves in glory with the ball in hand, but it was the hosts who seemed more streetwise in close quarters.
In the end, Ayr salvaged two points with an injury-time score but ultimately fell 37-31 short.
Speaking at full time, assistant coach Frazier Climo cut a dejected figure on the field. His overriding emotion – frustration: “We didn’t turn up. At times we built some pressure and built on phases, then just coughed it up. They didn’t really have to fight for their scores, we were soft.
“We got into position’s where we could have scored points and then that last pass wasn’t there… I’m pretty gutted with that tonight”.
There were numerous changes to the squad listed in previous weeks, including a debut for Ayr/Wellington youth graduate Fraser Thomson. Despite the result, Climo was pleased with how the changes performed in the circumstances: “Yeah, we have got boys out, but the boys that came in went well. It’s more the fact that some of the senior, more experienced, players were making the mistakes.
“Once we lose momentum, we really struggle to get it back at times – our heads go down. We’ve just got to learn to soak it up, give it back… It’s good learning though I suppose for this young team”.
Cartha scored first in the contest and stayed in front until final whistle, but Ayr remained in touching distance throughout. At 25-24 and ten minutes left on the clock it was anyone’s game. The hosts remained unperturbed and showed cool heads to deal two late scores and take the win away from Ayr.
Despite the clock in red and the result determined, Ayr ended on a positive, plucking one last score through Adam McGowan to secure a try-bonus point. Jamie Bova then slotted the conversion to add a losing-bonus point to the bag as well – two key points which could prove valuable down the straight. Referring to the last play, Climo said: “Coming away with two points is definitely a positive. We’ll take that away from it and the boys were determined to end on a high note. In terms of performance though, we know we can do better”.