Never mind your Barca versus Real, forget about Man United & Liverpool and you can keep your so called biggest derby in Scotland between Old Firm foes Rangers & Celtic!
This one’s the only one that counts for real football fans throughout the country meaning it must be time for the biggest and best rivalry in world football to renew its dues with Ayr United and Kilmarnock meeting in the Communities Cup Semi-Final at the National Stadium in Glasgow at the end of January.
As any Ayr United supporter will tell you, this match is a formality for the Bodog sponsored side. With incidents such as the ‘Hand of God’ goal from Bryan Prunty and Andy Walkers cheeky chappy chipped penalty goal at Somerset Park back in the glorious 1990’s, it’s not a matter of who will win but what outrageous goal antic will win the day for the Honest Men.
Will it be the Moff’s on Fire dance, Wardlaw’s moonwalk, Trouten’s Tango or Robertson’s Robot, which will light up the Somerset Road fans?
Remember Peter Crouch doing the Robot? What Ayr fan worth their salt wouldn’t love to see Robbo re-enacting that famous move by the big striker after scoring a 90th minute bullet train header that wins the game for our side!
With several recent SPL scalps already hanging in the manager’s office this season, Big Chief Sitting Reid will be hoping that this chance to claim another will lead to the holy grail of Scottish Football; a spot in a major final for the first time since 2002. In 2002, we played arguably the best Rangers side ever put together.
Ironically, Ayr captain John Robertson played in that final so he’ll be hoping for better luck this time around, but without Tore Andre Flo, Claudio Cannigia, Barry Ferguson or Fernando Ricksen to deal with, Robbo should have the Killie players fairly and squarely in his back pocket; If he had a back pocket in his shorts that is!
Somerset Boab and around an expected 15,000 other Honest Men and Bonnie Lassies regaled in their finest black and whites for the day. The watching public on TV will surely believe that their screens have turned back to the 1970’s with the monochrome nature of what’s beaming through the tube at them.
The odds are against the first division side winning this tie, no, literally the odds are against Ayr United winning the trophy at all. Being rank outsiders at 20/1 (Bodog) suits Ayr. Ayr love being the rank outsiders. Ayr love beating SPL sides but Ayr especially love beating their Ayrshire neighbours to prove there’s only one team in Ayrshire!
There’s only one team in Ayrshire, one team in Ayrshire, there’s only one team in Ayrshire!
The Scottish Communities League Cup Semi-Final 2012
Ayr United F.C. v Kilmarnock F.C.
The National Stadium, Hampden Park, Glasgow
Saturday 28th January, 2012
Kick-off 1.00 p.m.
Marc Roseblade is a Contributor for Bleacher Report, Football Speak, OurGameMagazine and CalvinAyre.com. He also writes his own football blog at NotJustScottishFootball as well as working as PR for Ayr United Football Academy & Galveston Pirate Soccer Club in Texas. All quotes are obtained first-hand unless otherwise stated.
