Change of Venues Don't 'Bully' Ayr.

First ever match at Shawfield Stadium was on 17th March 1914 and the Honest Men made an immediate impact with a 2-1 victory in a first division encounter. The 1914/14 season match away to Clyde was played at Firhill, which Clyde won 3-1, and so it wasn't until 18th March 1916 that Ayr again played at Shawfield and again recorded a fine 3-1 win. Visits to Shawfield were proving attractive to Ayr and the following season Ayr helped themselves to a 4-1 win on 11th November 1916.

Clyde did manage to record their first win over Ayr at Shawfield on 30th March 1918 when they won by 4-0 and the habit was developing well for them with 3-1 and 4-0 wins in the following seasons. In fact the Clyde winning habit was so well developed that aseries of wins meant that Ayr's next success at Shawfield was a 1-1 draw on 16th August 1930 in a first division match.

The following season a 3-3 draw was achieved but it was not until a league cup match on 14th August 1963 that Ayr next won at Shawfiels in an exciting 4-3 success having been at the wrong end of 5 and 8 goal defeats at the hands of the Bully Wee in the intervening years. The heady days of those first divison encounters had gone and both clubs now found themselves playing second division football and such was the case in season 1963/64 which saw a 6-0 defeat for United.

By the time Ayr won 1-0 at Shawfield on 25th October 1969 it was only their 5th win 55 years, not a particularly good record after those first two wins in a row. With first division football routine again for both clubs Ayr recorded another win on 5th February 1972 in the Scottish Cup and, after Clyde had yo-yo between the first and the second, Ayr had a 2-1 win in a first division match and another 3-1 win on 12 January 1974. Clyde had failed to make the premier league in 1975 and it was not until Ayr were relegated that a first division 1-0 win for Ayr resulted on 23 September 1978.

Just when success seemed to be becoming easier for Ayr at Shawfield, and they entertained the away supporters on 28th February 1979 with their biggest win at the Glasgow ground - 5-0. Ayr played their last ever match at Shawfield Stadium on 10th August 1985 when a 0-1 draw was the result in a first division match.
The next time Ayr went to play Clyde in Glasgow they were again at Firhill, Clyde winning 4-1 on 10th December 1988 and 1-0 on 4th March 1989 in the first division. Firhill was still the venue fo the following season as Clyde continued to find a new permanent home. 2-2 was the score on 2nd September 1989 a draw and a win for Clyde was the fare for the following season. On 21st August 1993, after a Clyde spell in division two, that Ayr won by 1-0, but this time Clyde were at Douglas Park, Hamilton. A 0-0 draw, also at Hamilton on 11th January 1994 preceeded another Clyde spell in division two. By the time that Ayr joined them in division two in 1995/96 Clyde had finally moved to their new permanent home at Broadwood Stadium. Ayr's first match there was on 21st October 1995 which they won 2-1 although they lost by 2-0 on 20th April 1996. Another fine 3-2 win was recorded at in another second division clash on 2nd November 1996 and that season was rounded of with a 1-1 draw at the Cambuslang venue.

Visits to Broadwood were short lived as Clyde were relegated and did not regain first divsion status until 2000 and Ayr's Steve Boyack made sure of a 1-0 for the visitors on 11th November 2000. A 2-2 draw followed later in the season. 2-2 draws were the order of the day for both matches in season 2001/02 but Clyde managed a 1-0 win the following season.