AYR UNITED have secured their Championship status with a resounding 3-1 win over Partick Thistle.
An Aaron Muirhead double and a Tomi Adeloye header meant that Lee Bullen’s side earned the all-important three points on the final day of the season, thus avoiding the relegation play-off, with Dunfermline condemned to ninth-place instead.
It was a big night for the Ayrshire outfit, but they stepped up to the plate to record the result required as they blew an understrength Thistle away.
The Honest Men would get off to the perfect start as Aaron Muirhead scored inside five-minutes.
Tomi Adeloye won the penalty. A cross from James Maxwell was played into his feet, and he cleverly managed to shield the ball which saw a shove in the back follow from Thistle’s Lewis Mayo, leaving Bobby Madden no option but to point to the spot.
Spot-kick specialist Muirhead stepped up to blast the home side into the lead, as the strong-Somerset crowd let out a huge cheer.
Thistle’s bad start would not falter, as key midfielder Kyle Turner hobbled off with injury. The Jags will be hoping he recovers for their upcoming play-off matches.
With Ayr well on top, they were inches away from adding a second. Again, it was Muirhead with the chance, as he toe-poked the ball towards the top corner, but Jamie Sneddon pulled off a fantastic save.
That said, Thistle were next to have a penalty shout – and it appeared to be a strong one. Confusion in the Ayr defence saw keeper Aidan McAdams rush out to claim the ball, but he cleared out Kyle McAllister in the process and he seemed to catch the player before the ball.
However, right on the half-hour mark Ayr would double their lead and make their dominance count.
Richard Foster hacked down Paul Smith on the wing which allowed Kerr McInroy to whip in a wicked delivery from the free-kick. Adeloye was alive in the box to evade his marker to head home from close range through the keeper’s legs. It’s not one Sneddon will want to see again.
A 2-0 lead was no more than Ayr deserved from their first-half performance.
After the break, McAdams had to produce two fine, quick reflex saves to deny the Jags on 56-minutes. Sub Kevin Holt directed both of his headers at a favourable height for the keeper, but that did not take away from the quality of the stops.
Moments later though, the home side were awarded another penalty as they put the game to bed.
Adeloye did brilliantly to win the ball towards the byline before driving towards the box. Holt brought the striker down and Muirhead stepped up yet again to score his second of the match.
Adeloye caused havoc among the Thistle backline all night, as he turned in possibly his best performance of the season at exactly the right time.
Alex Jakubiak would curl a powerful effort into the bottom corner as Thistle bagged a consolation goal ahead of their play-off tie with Inverness on Tuesday night.
The evening was Ayr’s though, as fans invaded the pitch to celebrate at full-time.
