Leaders hit a glitch

CURRIE remain in pole position in the title race but their they suffered a severe jolt at the hands of a never-say-die Ayr side who showed remarkable strength of character to twice overturn a 10point deficit.

The result means that the longtime league leaders can ill afford any further slip-ups if they are to finish the job. They may yet be left to rue their inability to kick on and win this match although that should not detract from the efforts of an Ayr side that just deserved to edge it on the strength of their greater commitment.

While Ayr's own title bid may have faltered in the draw with Boroughmuir seven days earlier, this result shows that they are ready to pounce if the pacesetters should stumble again in what is a tough run-in to the campaign.

With the initial niceties out of the way, Currie edged ahead with five minutes gone when Geoff Caldwell - returning to the ground where he started his career - raced in at the corner for the opening try of the afternoon.

Abrief flurry by Ayr proved fruitless and the visitors doubled their lead with a clinical finish by James Taggart who gathered a loose ball in the middle of the park and galloped home to touch down.

Nick Lavelle opened the home side's tally with a straightforward penalty after 15 minutes then added a second kick to trim the gap to four points.

And it got even better for the hosts when Lavelle sliced through the Currie defence to score between the sticks and converted his own score to send Ayr in at the break 13-10 ahead.

The three-point gap cancelled out within a minute of the restart when Warnock slotted a close range penalty. And the momentum swung back in the visitors' favour when the Currie stand off landed another effort following an award that earned Ayr lock Damien Kelly a ten minute spell in the sin bin. In his absence, Lavelle landed another penalty to restore parity. Another kick by Warnock swung a breathless encounter back in favour of the visitors. The league leaders then appeared to have applied the killer blow when Warnock sent Officer in from a close range ruck before adding the extra two points to again extend the gap into double figures.

Not so, as Ayr once more battled back. Lavelle darted in for his second try then added the conversion to set up an engrossing finale. Another penalty presented the chance of a draw but the hosts opted to kick for touch, a decision that was to prove the key to the final outcome.

A wave of attacks were repelled by Currie, although Warnock was yellow carded for doing so illegally and when the offencewasrepeatedasAyr made a further effort to break through, the referee awarded a penalty try. Lavelle again converted to spark scenes of jubilation among the Millbrae crowd.

Ayr: J McClung, R McCallum, B Colley, N Lavelle, P Gentile, R Holland, AJ McFarlane, G Reid, P McArthur, E Logan, S Lines, D Kelly, E Kellow, P Burke, G Tippett. Subs used: J Kee, S Sutherland, C Taylor.

Currie: E Haigh, G Caldwell, D Officer, A MacMahon, K McShane, A Warnock, R Snedden, J Cox, S Burnett, A Edwards, P Huntly, A Adam, J Taggart, M Cairns, R Weston. Subs used: A Reekie, M Blair, G Calder, S Burton.

Referee: G Hannah (Kirkcaldy).