With just five games to go, a crucial trip to Ayrshire neighbours, Ayr United, is up next on Saturday
The Opposition
Ian McCalls team have been dragged into the relegation battle partly due to a dip in their own form and partly to the resurgence of St Mirren under Jack Ross.
When the sides last met, at the end of December, the 0-0 draw left the Honest Men in 8th and 7 points ahead of bottom side St Mirren. That lead was extended to 8 points, even though Ayr had dropped to 9th, by mid-February before being cut to 5, then 4 points as March progressed. As we entered the first games of April Ayr faced a crunch tie with St Mirren which they lost heavily, 6-2, to bring the gap going into this game to just 1 point.
Despite now looking over their shoulders at the Buddies, Ayr will take some consolation from the fact that both Raith and Dumbarton have also slipped down the table and sit just 2 and 3 points ahead, respectively, of them.
Since the last game on Hogmanay, McCall has strengthened his squad with the signings of Declan McDaid from Partick, Sean McKenzie from Cumnock and Farid El Alagui after his release from Dunfermline.
He’ll be unable to call on, another ex-Jag, Conrad Balatoni or our former player Jamie Adams tomorrow as both miss the game through injury.
The Game
This Ladbrokes Championship match kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 8th April at Somerset Park, Ayr.
Live updates will be available on the website and on Twitter and Facebook. We will also publish pictures through the day on our new Instagram Channel
The Fans
Prices for the match are :
Adults - £17
Concessions - £10
U16s - £5
Supporter's buses should park in Craigie Park.
The Dressing Room
The players deserve a lot of credit for their win over Dundee United last weekend. I thought we played well and totally dominated the game from start to finish, to score four and put on a performance like we did is a credit to them. They've been working hard on the training ground so to be rewarded with a comprehensive win is very pleasing. We felt the best way to get the win was to attack and it certainly paid off for us. We are still making mistakes that we shouldn't be but the players have held their hands up and we move on.
It was a big three points for us, the other results went the way I thought they would so I knew that we needed to win. It doesn't ease the pressure, that should be there every game but we want to get as many points as possible and finish as high up the table as we can. I set the players a target so we still have plenty to play for, we are still aware that with a couple of defeats we could be dragged back into it so we want to get ourselves away from the teams below and we gave ourselves a chance with the win last week.
When you win you want the next game to come round quickly, this week we head to Ayr United who are fighting for their lives.
They lost heavily to St Mirren last week so they'll be looking to make amends. They'll make it tough for us so we can't afford to take our eye of the ball, we have to approach the game in the same manner as we did against United. I'm looking for a bit of consistency so that's the challenge I've set the players, I'm looking for them to build on last week's result and carry on our away form which has been good this season. Three points would take us to 42 points and you'd have to say that it would be very difficult for three or four teams to overtake us.
The Team
Derek Lyle is doubtful after picked up an injury against United last week.
The Officials
Referee : Alan Newlands
Assistant 1 : Jordan Stokoe
Assistant 2 : Garry Doherty
This is the first time Mr Newlands has taken charge of a league game for us and just his second time in the middle in total. The only other game was also this season, the early win over Queens Park in the Betfred Cup at Airdrie.
The Stats
The league head to heads at Somerset are very close. Ayr edge both with 14 wins to 13 and 7 draws.
Despite their league position Ayr sit 5th in the recent form guide, with 9 points from their last 6 games, recording 3 wins and 3 defeats. That’s 4 places and points ahead of us.
The home/away form, though, shows a different picture. Ayr are bottom of the recent home form with 6 points from 6 games, although those points have come in two of the last 3 games. Our away form is better with 9 points, which sees us 4th over the last 6 games. However, we haven’t won in the last 3 away game with 2 draws and one defeat.