Brian Reid forced to defend deep against Kenny Shiels’ attack

There was little question that the Somerset Park team indulged in a form of the anti-football patented by Rangers in Europe and the Scottish national team in recent years. It could be debated as to the legitimacy of the approach when the First Division part-timers were ranged against Scottish Premier League rivals – Shiels stating he was merely at the “wind-up” in claiming they were full-time in the lead-up to the semi – but he did not think any justification could be made for Ayr’s attempts to stifle their local opponents.

He described their solid defensive wall as “like a bunch of daffodils round the penalty spot”, said he would “never have played like that” even if facing up to Barcelona, and that Ayr maybe employed “the same coach company they used at St Mirren”. That night the Paisley club’s manager Danny Lennon joked Ayr hadn’t just parked the bus for their quarter-final victory, but a fleet of them, though he qualified his comments by maintaining they were entitled to do so and it was up to his team to break them down.

Shiels’ qualifications for his criticisms were that Reid’s side short-changed their own talents and the paying public with their approach. “I am relieved because football was the winner today and that is the most important thing in the industry we work in, to provide good football and good entertainment,” Shiels said. “To attack for two hours is not easy. The other team started attacking in the 90th minute when the sign went up for three minutes of overtime, and it was like ‘wow, these boys can play’.

“I thought if they had done that sooner they could have beaten us. But they didn’t come out. Belief comes from your tactics and both teams have to show each other respect and come out and attack each other. But Ayr United didn’t. I don’t know for what reason because they have got decent players. Football is about entertainment. People come and pay to be entertained and the easiest component in football, or any sport, is to defend. But anybody can do that. We have to be respectful of the fact that people have paid money to come and watch a fantastic occasion and you need two teams to attack to have that.

“I am maybe sounding a bit negative but I have to be honest in my assessment. After having dominated for so long, I thought the man above is working against us. Those three minutes at the end I thought one of these is going to go in. I don’t know if they played for penalties – it looked like it. I’m not taking anything away from Ayr’s players because their work ethic and endeavour was magnificent. But it was a negative approach. I am not hammering Ayr United but what I am saying is that the game would have been a better spectacle if they had come out.”

A goal for his side would have done that and Shiels half-accepted his team were, in a certain respect, responsible for the way the semi-final panned out by not scoring.

Ayr counterpart Brian Reid offered no apologies for a plan which almost worked. If it had and his team had won on penalties no one would have had grounds for complaint, was the thrust of his defence.

“Kenny should keep his opinions to himself and worry about his own team,” said Reid. “I’m a wee bit disappointed with that but he has made a few silly comments in saying we were full-time when we were part-time. He should know better because I think he managed part-time clubs. We were annoyed, a wee bit disrespectful. I don’t know where he was coming from with his comments, maybe he was just trying to pysche everyone out a wee bit, making out we were the big favourites and they were underdogs. It is a bit of a strange thing to say. I was proud of our part-time players today. Their effort and commitment was second to none and they just came up short at the end.”

On that at least, both Shiels and Reid were in some sort of agreement.