As I have mentioned many times before our record against lower league teams in cup competitions is awful. It doesn't seem to matter how we're doing or how our opponents are doing and how many leagues apart we are, if you're below us in the football set-up then you've got a great chance of progressing. We are the Scotland of Scottish football - rubbish when we're favourites but actually not too bad when we're the underdogs. Ayr have already benefited from our willingness to help out lower league clubs by beating us in last year's competition. They then faced Kilmarnock in the semi-finals and they went on to win the cup. And we beat Kilmarnock three times out of four in the SPL last season...
Making things even more worrying ahead of tomorrow’s game is our horrific cup record at Greenhill Road under Danny Lennon. Admittedly we have only lost twice at home in cups since he took over - but that's because we drew all the other games. Incredibly, two years and six games later, we have still to win a home cup tie under Lennon - the Renfrewshire Cup not counting. It is something we need to improve upon if we ever want to make it back to Hampden as we can't keep relying on replays in the Scottish and away ties in the League Cup!
Tomorrow night will hopefully see us set that stat, and our lower league cup record, put to bed - although I'm certainly not taking anything for granted. In the last 12 months Ayr have been relegated and changed manager and while we have lost a few players we are a decent team. This is the fourth season running we've faced Ayr in a cup but last time around was the only tie we've lost. If our players approach this properly and have a plan B - unlike last year - then we should hopefully make it through to the last 16. However Ayr do seem to be cup specialists, as they proved last year, so while their squad may not be full of the big names from a decade ago they will not be push overs. We will have to treat them with respect they deserve and be at our best if we're to avoid another embarrassing result.
The size of our squad probably means it'll be same again for Saints tomorrow, the team that played against Motherwell on Sunday once again being called into action, with Darren McGregor and Grant Adam still out. Thomas Reilly has apparently recovered from a knock although there's no news on Lewis Guy's injury so it looks like the bench is the best both can hope for. Possible changes could see Jon Robertson or former Ayr man Gary Teale starting, but it's hard to see who would be forced to make way for them. Let's just hope the defence is switched on from the start and doesn't make the sort of silly error we've seen in the last few games.
The big change at Ayr over the summer is the departure of Brian Reid. He seemed to do well enough at Somerset, getting them promoted to the first division and then relegated a year later before going back up, but he didn't seem particularly well liked by the online Honest Men. He's been replaced by the only former Buddie left at the club (no need to worry about Gareth Wardlaw or Alex Burke this time around) in Mark Roberts. He's been a player at Ayr for a fair few years now and that loyalty has been rewarded by him being given his first shot at management. He is still playing though so we need to watch out for the former club jinx - especially as he has already scored against us in the past.
Even though we seem to face Ayr every year, be it in a friendly or a cup, I'll be honest and say I don't know a great deal about their squad - partly because we've not been in the same division for more than eight years. Gone are the likes of Eddie Annand, James Grady and John Hughes from the heady Bill Barr days. Their most high profile player now is Austin McCann, who didn't exactly do well when playing against us for Dunfermline last season - although that defence was awful. David Winters is another name I recognise as he's been kicking around the SFL for years, having played for the likes of Ross County and Hamilton.
Another of their strikers seems to be highly rated and internet rumours have linked us with Michael Moffat in the past - although that was before Lennon realised you can't just build a squad of the second division's finest and hope it can cut it in the SPL. The Moff has a decent scoring record and should cause our defence some problems, as should David Sinclair who is in excellent form. Michael McGowan, John Robertson and Ryan McStay have all been kicking around the lower leagues for a good few years without getting a real shot at the big time - although McStay did feature for Falkirk in the SPL - and they will see this as a chance to shine, while some of the up and coming players to prove they could be playing at a higher level.
Follow Mirren Mad on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mirrenmad
Follow Mirren Mad on Twitter @mirren_mad or http://www.twitter.com/mirren_mad