Ayr United 2 Queen’s Park 2

Queen’s Park rediscovered their scoring touch at Somerset Park and all but secured their place in next season’s William Hill Championship.

The Spiders came from a goal behind to lead 2-1 through strikes from Seb Drozd and Roddy MacGregor before being pulled back in the second half and settling for a point.

It could have been three for Steven MacLean’s side who have gone 11 games without a win and 493 minutes without a goal.

That all changed when Drozd squeezed in an equaliser after 22 minutes of the match and significant disruption to the Spiders’ team.

Interim head coach MacLean had named the same starting XI which performed so well in gaining a point at Hamilton, with Drozd leading the line and heavily involved from the start.

The forward went into the book in the ninth minute – losing his footing in a slide challenge which took out both Ayr’s Nick McAllister and team-mate Ryan Duncan. However the on-loan Aberdeen player came off worst and had to be stretchered off the Somerset Park surface in some discomfort, forcing Steven MacLean into an unexpectedly early change. 

Miscommunication on the edge of the box with Drozd then denied early substitute Louis Longridge a strike at goal – and the confusion was punished immediately.

Ayr raced up the Queen’s right wing and a deep cross to the backpost found Dylan Watret. His powerful shot was brilliantly stopped by Callum Ferrie – as he has done so many times this season. He pulled another off in the second half however the  rebound to this one was seized by Jamie Murphy and driven over the line for the opener.

However the Spiders duo would make up for their earlier mix-up by striking the equaliser for Queen’s Park.

Ibrox goal hero Drozd tucked in a cut-back from Longridge just inside Josh Clarke’s post from the edge of the box to register Queen’s Park’s first goal since Morton on March 22, and Drozd’s first since his famous Scottish Cup strike against
Rangers.

The relief was felt across the team, and it showed with a lift in performance too.

Sean Welsh almost picked out the blind-side ruin of Timam Scott three minutes later and the Spiders suddenly had the impetus after the disappointment of falling behind.

Their right-wing route bore fruit on the half-hour when a brilliantly worked goal clicked into gear – in a move started and finished by Roddy MacGregor.

Scott raced onto a driven ball across the pitch by the midfielder and chased the lost cause all the way to the by-line. Keeping the ball in play he sent a pass into the penalty area and the run of Aiden McGinlay. The on-coming Spiders’ starlet stepped over the pass to fool Josh Clarke, and left MacGregor with a neat finish into the corner.

That’s how it stayed at the interval, but the home end was furious when ref Sean Murdoch denied Ayr captain Ben Dempsey a shot at Ferrie’s goal shortly before the break, and Dempsey continued to remonstrate for the remainder of the first half.

Ayr pulled one back after it though when Mark McKenzie headed in after an extended period of pressure from the home side – though Will Tizzard had cause for complaint, claiming he was pushed over as the Ayr striker equalised.

However the goal stood and Queen’s refused to let their heads go down.

Scott turned on the style before he was subbed on the hour-mark for Jack Turner in a triple substitution from Steven MacLean, with Zak Rudden and Grant Savoury also added for McGinlay and Drozd.

However it was Ayr sub George Oakley who threatened next and brought a brilliant save from Ferrie on 70 minutes after beating Ben Jackson in the air.

In terms of chances that was the final one as both sides played out the remaining 20 minutes in midfield.

Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia replaced Roddy MacGregor after an all-action shift in midfield, and his goal proved important in adding another point into the Queen’s Park column of the Championship table.

The Spiders are safe from automatic relegation and still level with seventh placed Dunfermline, who are two goals better off in goal difference.

 All that is pending Hamilton’s 15-point deduction however, with an appeal hearing against the punishment scheduled for Thursday, May 1 – the penultimate day of the Championship season.

QUEEN’S PARK: Ferrie, Devine, Jackson, Tizzard, Montgomery, Welsh,
MacGregor (Hickey-Fugaccia 72), Duncan (Longridge 9), McGinlay (Savoury 61),
Scott (Turner 61), Drozd (Rudden 61). Unused subs: Sliwinski, Hurst, Evans, Hickey-Fugaccia, King.

AYR UTD: Clarke, McAllister (Reading 74), Musonda, Dempsey,
McLennan, Murphy, Hastie, McKenzie (Oakley 55), Rus, Watret (Stanger 55),
McMann. Unused subs: Mutch, Reading, Henderson, Walker, Agbaire, McKinnon.