The Preview: Ross County vs Ayr United

By Ramsay Banks

Tickets: Home Match Tickets - RCFC

Ross County will set out to right the wrongs of last weekend as they welcome Ayr United to Dingwall on Saturday.

The Honest Men are enjoying a steady season and sit bang in the middle of the table in fifth place. Scott Brown’s men are only outside the playoff places on goal difference, but are without a win in three matches.

Kickoff is at 3pm at the Global Energy Stadium.

Ross County

Heading into last week’s match away to Arbroath, the Staggies would have been confident coming off the back of a convincing 3-2 win against Dunfermline.

The Lichties made sure County could build no momentum from the previous week’s success, running out 3-0 winners in what was a scrappy match.

An early goal from Harry Cochrane gave the home side the early initiative and from that point they never looked like giving it up. Jacob MacIntyre and Taylor Steven added second half goals to put the nail in the coffin of a dismal afternoon for the Staggies.

County are now back in eighth place seven points away from the playoff places and will be chomping at the bit to ensure they pick themselves back up and close that gap on Saturday with a positive result against Ayr.

Tony Docherty told the media last week’s result was an “anomaly” and will be looking to bring the team back to two weeks ago when they were on a high after victory against the Pars.

Player to watch: Ryan Duncan

Despite the Staggies not having much in the way of positives to take from last week, Ryan Duncan looked like a promising outlet on the wing whenever they tried to break on the counter.

No attacking move quite clicked, but when Duncan was involved in the buildup and tried to take the game to Arbroath, it did seem that there was a higher chance of County nicking something.

Improvements are required across the board for a better result this week, but if Duncan can continue getting himself into threatening positions and run at defenders, the Staggies will have a higher chance of getting themselves back on track.

Ayr United

Ayr have been as steady as steady can get this season but will be hoping for a win against County to arrest a potential slump down the table - they haven’t won in their last three matches.

The short term goal for the Honest Men will be to break into or at the very minimum keep at pace with Dunfermline and Arbroath in the lower two promotion playoff places.

A goal from Barney Stewart meant that Ayr came out of their last match with a 1-0 defeat to Dunfermline. The blank they drew also made it two games without a goal, having played out a 0-0 draw with ten man Queen’s Park the week before.

Despite going through a challenging few weeks, Brown’s side will be problematic opposition for a County side that has shown huge improvement in patches, but is struggling to string a run of results together.

Player to watch: Stuart Bannigan

Things are nowhere near panic stations for Ayr at the moment, but in a moment where things aren’t going their way, calm heads tend to prevail.

The experience of a player like Stuart Bannigan, who has been there, done it and seen it all will be crucial as they look to get back to winning ways against County.

The 33-year-old, who spent his entire career with Partick Thistle apart from a loan spell with Ayr in 2010, returned to Somerset Park in the summer upon the expiry of his Jags contract.

Since then, he has played a respectable eight out of a possible thirteen games, with some of these appearances coming off the bench.

With bags of talent to go alongside his experience, Bannigan could be the key if Ayr are to leave Dingwall with the points.

Previous meeting

The last meeting between Ross County and Ayr United was in the league earlier this season at Somerset Park.

Ayr took a lead through Ethan Walker in the second minute when some fans hadn’t even gotten into the ground. The Staggies did manage to get an equaliser through Jay Henderson early in the second half which, at the time, looked like it would spark the game into life.

However, neither team could find a decisive goal despite an end to end match with both ‘keepers being thoroughly tested.

Familiar faces

County midfielder Ross Docherty spent a large portion of his career so far with Ayr United, playing for the Honest Men from 2015 to 2020.

Jay Henderson spent the entirety of last season on loan at Somerset Park and set the heather alight, scoring 14 goals and assisting 13 more.

Refereeing Team

Referee: Chris Graham

AR1: Gordon Crawford

AR2: Will Pare