Match Report - By John Hoey

Brechin City 0 Ayr United 1

Ayr United will play Queens Park in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup after beating Brechin City by 1-0 in last night's third round tie at Glebe Park.

The only goal of the match came in the 70th minute when Andy O'Connell fired home from close-range and although the Honest Men deserved their victory they were made to fight all the way by a battling and gutsy City side who were minus first team regulars Paul McLean, Chris O'Neil, James Dale, Alan Trouten, Finn Graham and Andy Jackson.

The Honest Men exerted pressure on the City defence straight from the kick-off with a netbound effort from Ross Docherty after three minutes blocked by City defender Gareth Rodger and three minutes later Gary Harkins struck a 20 yard free-kick well over the bar.

Ayr continued to press and they should have grabbed the opener in the 22nd minute when Jamie Adams found himself with plenty of space in the box before firing in a drive which was brilliantly tipped round the post by Graeme Smith and Smith performed heroics again nine minutes before the break when he tipped a superb drive from Andy McConnell onto the bar before the ball was cleared away by the home defence.

Ayr started the second-half as they finished the first enjoying the lions' share of pressure and possession but it was City who showed their intentions early on when Aron Lynas steered an angular drive wide of the target and they almost grabbed the opening goal in the 56th minute when Elliot Ford played in Robbie Buchanan who delivered a good cross across the face of the penalty-box for Ally Love who, with only the keeper to beat, somehow managed to direct his header past the post.

Ayr battled back and Nicky Devlin did well to push forward into the penalty-box before firing in a shot which was well wide Smith's left-hand post. However the visitors made the vital breakthrough in the 70th minute when a piece by of brilliance from Harkins led to the winning goal although the City defence will feel they could have prevented it. The ex Dundee midfielder did well to hold the ball up wide on the left bye-line before delivering a pin-point cross into the City box for O'Connell who wasted no time in drilling the ball past Smith.

City, to their credit, pushed forward in an effort to grab the equaliser and Ayr, who had dominated the early stages of the match now found themselves under real pressure as they worked really hard to defend their lead. With ten minutes remaining, City manager Darren Dods replaced Robbie Buchanan with Darren McCormack and pushed centre-back Dougie Hill up into attack to try and take the match to a replay, but despite their best efforts, the visitors defence stood firm and held on for a narrow victory.