Ayr 12-41 Currie: Easy win for the visitors with a little official help

IT WAS all supposed to be about giving Ayr skipper Damien "Skippy" Kelly a big farewell prior to his return to his native Australia. But this final Premier A match of the season didn't follow the script.

Currie would probably still have won, but not so easily had they not had the benefit of nearly every one of countless wrong decisions by referee Andrew McMenemy.

Ayr didn't help themselves with insipid tackling and poor option selection, but, when it gets to the stage when one side is almost being penalised for breathing, ambition tends to vanish.

Finlay Gillies scored the first Currie try from an Andrew Binikos half-break. James Johnston then took advantage of slack Ayr tackling to sprint clear from his own 10 metre line, Hayden Abercrombie converting. Ross Curle then got Ayr's unconverted try before Currie skipper Andy Adam intercepted on half-way and scampered clear for an unconverted try and it was 5-17 at half time.

Replacement Stu Simonsen opened Currie's second half account with a close-quarters try, converted by Abercrombie, who added a penalty goal.

Ayr had a good spell of pressure before, in the final ten minutes, Currie broke upfield and Mike Entwhistle and Andy Turnbull added tries, converted by Abercrombie, before, three minutes from time, Ayr, who had had what seemed two perfectly legal first-half tries unaccountably disallowed, had the last word when Andy Dunlop finished off a great Mark Stewart break and Curle converted.

Scorers: Ayr: Tries: Curle, Dunlop. Con: Curle. Currie: Tries: Gillies, Johnston, Adam, Simonsen, Entwhistle, Turnbull. Cons: Abercrombie 4. Pen: Abercrombie.

Ayr: Anderson, A Wilson, Curle, M Stewart, Manning, R McCallum, MacFarlane; Reid, McArthur, A Kelly, Sutherland, D Kelly, Dunlop, Burke, Tippett. Subs: Fenwick, Sykes, Nimmo, Steele, Taylor.

Currie: Abercrombie, Turnbull, Johnston, McMahon, Brown, Binikos, Snedden, Cox, Gillies, Hamilton, R Wilson, Adam, Burton, Entwhistle, Weston. Subs: Simonsen, Merrilees, Temple, Cairns, Strachan.