Brechin City 0
Ayr United 1
Scottish Cup (Third Round)

Match Report

Andy O’Connell made his first start since July but it was well worth the wait as he fired Ayr United into the Scottish Cup fourth round.

His priceless Tuesday night winner booked a fourth-round tie at home to Queen’s Park on January 21.

And that’s a game Ayr will surely be confident of winning as they chase a much needed money spinning cup run.

Boss Ian McCall admitted the performance was well below par but claimed: “We deserved to win and 1-0 was a fair reflection as we hit the bar and post but we didn’t play well.

“It wasn’t pretty at times but we played some good stuff, other times it was too slow.

“It’s a cup tie and it’s all about winning so now we have a home tie which is winnable for us to get to the last 16.”

O’Connell, 23, had bagged only an IRN-BRU Cup goal against St Mirren since joining in the summer from Cobh Ramblers.

The Irish club are famed for rearing Roy Keane but Ayr hope the powerful striker can add another chapter.

O’Connell celebrated his rare appearance with the one clinical moment of a tight balanced tie in the 70th minute.

Gary Harkins did the spadework by getting to the byline and when he sent over a cross, O’Connell was lying unmarked to turn and fire a left foot shot into the bottom corner.

That was enough to settle a nervy tie but Ayr had Greg Fleming to thank just before the goal when he made a great save from a close-in header from Ally Love.

United brought back Ross Docherty and Jamie Adams but Paul Cairney was beginning a two game ban while loan duo Scott McKenna and Kevin Nisbet were unavailable.

Brechin, going well in League One, were shorn of their best with Alan Trouten, Andy Jackson, Paul McLean and Chris O’Neil all out.

Not surprisingly, Ayr started like they meant business.

Former Ayr keeper Graeme Smith denied his old team with great saves from Jamie Adams and then touched an O’Connell effort on to the bar.

Ayr forced a series of corners at the start of the second-half and Harkins saw a free-kick easily gathered by Smith.

Adams had another header saved this time from a Nicky Devlin cross before Brechin gave a timely reminder.

Love found space in the box to get on the end of a deflected effort and send in a netbound header only for Fleming to pull off a top class save.

Alan Forrest replaced Adams after 63 minutes and Craig McGuffie had a free-kick spilled by Smith soon after before O’Connell made the vital breakthrough with 20 minutes to go.

Gilmour took over from McGuffie two minutes later but there was another warning from Brechin when Dougie Hill fired a 25 yard free-kick inches wide.

Conrad Balatoni was just out with a header from a corner as Ayr chased a killer second goal.

O’Connell made way for Michael Rose with nine minutes to go as United looked to batten down the hatches.

But there was still time to almost grab another with the immaculate Balatoni firing a long ranger wide in injury time.

Brechin boss Darren Dods claimed: “It took a bit of magic from Harkins but that is what he is all about. Their keeper made a great save and then they went up the park and scored.”

Match report written by Daily Record