Ayr United v Partick Thistle, Saturday 4th August 2018
Both Ross and myself decided at the end of last season that we wanted to attend a “Flag day” for the season opener and where better than Somerset Park, Ayr to see Ayr United hoist above the Scottish League One Championship flag. 
On this occasion, and at the last minute, we were joined by two good friends who asked not to be named, so I’ve given them the aliases Side Show Boab and Fun Boy Johnson. Boab managed to score a couple of complementary tickets for the game as he somehow knows the Ayr United defender Daniel Harvie. I’m not sure what the connection is but the tickets arrived in a scented envelope sealed with a lipstick kiss.
Ayr United, promoted to the Scottish Championship at the end of last season, faced a stern challenge in the newly demoted Partick Thistle, who unceremoniously had been relegated from the Scottish Premiership via the Championship play-off against Livingstone F.C, who would be promoted in their place.
A bit about Ayr
Ayr and surrounding areas are steeped in history, being the birthplace of Scottish poet Rabbie Burns, Scottish King Robert the Bruce, Ayr racecourse (the home of Scotland’s premier horse event The Scottish Grand national), the stunning beauty of Ayr beach and of course the central urban area, named after the late Brazilian Racing Driver Ayrton Senna (Centre). The town has an approximate population of around 50,000 and dates back to the stone age. I always struggle to get my bearings in Ayr, but Ross kept us right as he does know the town like the back of his hand due to his many, many, many trips to nearby Craig Tara.
A bit about the Ground
Somerset Park has 4 ends including a main covered seated area and 3 terraced ends, two of which are covered. We pitched our spot in the north uncovered terracing, just in time for the sun to break through the clouds and burn the skin on my face to a bright alky red.
The ground itself is old although some of the roofing was recently replaced, particularly in 2011 during that major storm the media wouldn’t shut up about ‘Hurricane Bawsack’.
The ground has a capacity of just over 10,000 with around 1,500 in the seated area. 25,000 managed to cram into the ground in 1969 to watch Ayr United v Rangers, which is the record attendance for the ground.
The ground is older than the club itself, with Ayr F.C being the proprietors initially before they amalgamated with Ayr Parkhouse to form Ayr United as we know them today.
A bit about the team
Nicknamed The Honest Men after the poem by Robert Burns called Tam o’Shanter, the club have been playing senior football since their formation in 1910.
The club have this year won the Scottish third tier for the 3rd time in their history and have also won the Second tier, now called the Championship 6 times, the last time in 1966. In 2002 they reached the Scottish League cup final but were soundly beaten by Rangers.
The Money bit
The ticket price for the game was £17 for an adult ticket.
It became clear that we couldn’t purchase the tickets for this game in advance online as the club appeared not to have that facility. We did try to email the club and also tweeted them but they didn’t reply. I was hoping to keep a ticket memento for the games we are attending but the dark figure lodged within in the turnstile booth quickly whipped away our complementary ticket and F.B Johnson, who paid cash, didn’t receive a ticket either. My only souvenir is a half time prize draw ticket which is good enough I suppose. 
We got the train down to Ayr costing £10.50 return from Glasgow. It took about 50 minutes and we got off at Newton on Ayr station being the closest to the ground.
The day out bit
The first pub we came to was the Wallace Inn across the road from Newton on Ayr station. After a quick drink, we headed along to the ground to see if the ticket office was open for us to obtain/purchase out tickets. Although it was open, we had to wait for our tickets to be dropped off, so we decided to go on a late morning/early afternoon pub crawl and found ourselves in what can only be described as the old man pub district.
Stopping off for few a pints in the Campbeltown Bar, 19th hole, Briggs bar and the **r*’s bar at the waterfront. In the latter bar we experienced an Ayrshire lager tops, which is 98% pint and two percent flatus, most likely from the barmaids own special reserve. Either that or the pipes hadn’t been cleaned since Rabbie himself was last in there for a pint. The bar also was notable for its exquisite beer garden and outdoor toilet. 
The game bit
The match was busy with it being flag day and Partick Thistle always have a decent away following, noting the official attendance as 3,249. The home crowd were noisy which was refreshing as it’s normally the away fans on the sauce who make the most noise from our experience so far.
The first half started well with young Ayr United striker Lawrance Shankland scoring an early penalty and adding another just under 10 minutes later.
Half time Pie
The pie purchased by Ross was scoffed very early in the first half and he tells me it was a dry pie and gave it 4 out of 10. Personally I would add at least a point onto it as Ross’s taste buds must have been affected by the amount of alcohol consumed in our pre-match pub crawl.
The second half was short on chances but the Ayr fans behind the goal where in good voice throughout, making it a cracking wee experience.
The game ended 2-0 to Ayr United and we recorded our first victory after two draws on our 42 Tour.
Back to the pub
After the game it was back out into town for a few more beers and stopping off at the Anchor bar (pictured), the Smugglers Bar, finishing our day in the West Kirk bar.
It was soon time to head for the train journey back home to Glasgow and found ourselves on board with a quite a few Partick Thistle fans who, like us, had consumed an obscene amount of alcohol and liked a good sing-song. Speaking away to an old Thistle from Drumchapel, who has done what we are doing now about 10 times over having followed Thistle since the 60s, was a good laugh however a Thistle fan who clearly couldn’t handle a few pints socked a young lad in the face for no real reason, but it all quickly calmed down with the perpetrator quickly sinking into his chair after a bollocking from his own fans.
The ever brave Ross, who is neither a lover nor a fighter, made a quick escape from the turmoil of the fight by doing what anyone would do in that situation………………..take refuge in the overhead luggage compartment!
On that bizarre note it was another great day and enjoyed even more with a few more mates getting in on another adventure to Scotland football grounds.
3 down 39 to go.
Until next time.
Si and Ross
The 42 