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Early Nailbiters - Then Succes for United
When Ayr United made their first journey to Coatbridge to play Albion Rovers it was not at the more familiar Cliftonhill environs that they travelled. United trooped out on 11th February 1911 onto a frostbound Meadow Park and stamped their authority on the venue with two goals from Charlie Phillips in a 2-1 win which took them to top of the second division.
Ayr won their home fixture by 2-0 on 4th November 1911 Rovers asked for a change of venue on 17th February 1912 to ‘old’ Somerset Park as United were on the brink of the second division title and Rovers saw the chance to obtain a bigger crowd, and a bigger pay cheque. United won by 4-0 thus securing the title with Hilly Goodwin, Harry Smpson (2) and Charlie Phllips scoring.
They repeated the win, this time by 1-0, on 19th October 1912. 2nd November was a significant ay for United and it wasn't the 3-0 win for the Honest Men over Albion Roves. It was the debut of goalkeeper Robert ‘Sprigger’ White, a star in the Ayr United goals.
United·s promotion to division one meant that there were no matches until 1st November 1919 by which time Albion Rovers were not only in the first division but they were in transit to their new home at Cliftonhill. This match, however, was at Airdrie·s Broomfield Park and Rovers managed a 2-1 victory.
It was on 23rd October 1920 when United lined up at Cliftonhill Park and had a winning start at that venue also by a similar 2-1 score. On 3rd December 1921 Ayr recorded a 3-2 win at Cliftonhill, but could not complete the hat rick on 24th February 1923 when Albion one 2-1. Despite this win Albion Rovers found themselves relegated to the second division and only when Ayr were relegated the following season did hostility·s recommence with a 0-0 draw taking place in the second division fixture on 29th August 1925.
The Ayr boys must still have hangovers when Albion recorded a massive 5-1 win on the new year match of 1927 but revenge was their, at least in the promotion stakes. A 0-0 draw was recorded the following season as Ayr marched to the first division. Hangovers were again evident, however, when Albion Rovers followed Ayr to the first division and recorded an 8-0 on 5th January 1935 and then another 5-1 win in the following season'· first division encounter.
Visits to Cliftonhill were not being very productive for Ayr and a 5-0 defeat in a first division match on 12th August 1939 re-emphasised that, although this match was later nullified due to the start of the 2nd World War.
The substituted wartime emergency Regional League saw Rovers win 2-1 on 28th October 1939 with United prevailing on 10th April 1940 by 2-0. More defeats followed into the war years and Ayr just failed to change their luck in a Scottish League Cup match of 21st September 1946 when Rovers won 5-4.
A 2-2 draw on 9th April 1948 in a ·B· division supplementary cup match was about as close as Ayr came to another victory until the ·B· division match of 25th March 1950 when Ayr at last broke that 29 year hoodoo and won 5-3. Although Ayr lost over the next two seasons, it wasn·t as long before victory was again theirs · in fact twice in quick succession.
On ·B· division duty on 29th November 1952 United chalked up a 1-0 win but just a few weeks later, in another league match they recorded a nail biting 6-5 win on 24th January 1953. Another nail biting win took place on 11th September 1954, this time by 5-4. Despite a 4-2 defeat on 8th October 1955 in the last ·B· division match between the two at Cliftonhill, Ayr gained promotion · but only for a season.
When they returned to beat Albion 4-1 on 12th October 1958 it was for a second division match. Another 1-1 draw was fought out on 23rd August 1961, but Ayr recorded a 3-0 win the following season, on 29th September 1962. The next time that Ayr won at Cliftonhill was in their promotion year when a 2-0 win was recorded on 15th January 1966. Relegation meant that United were back playing second division football on 7th October 1967 when another 2-0 win was gained. A 1-0 win on 19th April 1969 helped Ayr gain promotion which they maintained until after league re-organisation and the advent of the Premier league.
It wasn·t until Ayr sunk to the new Second Division that they found themselves at Cliftonhill on 27th September 1986 and lost 3-2 although they won the second league match at Coatbridge on 21st March 1987 by 1-0. On 12th December 1987, with Ayr·s promotion push well on the way, the away match was moved to Airdrie·s Broomfield Park due the large travelling support from the west coast and a 1-1 draw was recorded.
Broomfield Park was the venue for Ayr’s 3-1 defeat for the first division match on 12th August 1989. 1,200 people turned out to see Rovers’ back in the first division and this spurred the home side on. Nevertheless United managed to win 2-0 at Ayr on 26th December 1989 with a festive crowd of 3,151 giving Ayr
They were still on form when they lined up at Ayr on 14th April 1990 winning by 2-0 in what was United’s first home defeat since October 1989.
The teams have spent time in different divisions since however the clubs did meet in a Scottish Cup 4th round match on 13th February 1999 when Ayr won 1-0 at Somerset Park in front of 3,229 spectators. Albion Rovers beat Ayr for the first time in 19 years on 25th July 2009 in the 1st round of the Alba (Challenge) Cup winning by 2-0 at Somerset Park with two goals in the last 8 minutes.
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