Plenty Success at Boghead

Ayr United’s first ever match against the Sons of Dumbarton was on 5th November 1910 at Boghead Park, Dumbarton when Ayr lost 3-2. 

With both Ayr and Dumbarton in joint top position their encounter on 1st April 1911 at Somerset Park was vital. Ayr had unveiled new signing Alex Hill Goodwin from Ayr Fort. ‘Hilly’ as he was known had a superb debut scoring two goals in the 6th and 37th minute. In the second half two goals from Charlie Phillips and one from Sam Graham for a 5-1 win.

The following season, on 18th November 1911, United’s long unbeaten run came to an end with 4-1 defeat in the Scottish Qualifying Cup match at Boghead, with United playing for parts of the match with only 9 men.

A worse defeat occurred in a league match on 10th February 1912 when a 1-1 half score became a 6-1 win for the Sons at Boghead as Ayr pushed for a league title win.

History shows that Ayr United recorded their largest ever victory against the Sons at Ayr on 13th August 1952 when they won 11-1 at Somerset Park in a league cup match.

In recent times 15th September 1973 saw a solid 2-1 win for Ayr in a 1st division match. The same scoreline was recorded the following season and 2-1 was the result in the Scottish Cup game on 26th January 1980. Ayr broke the mould with a 3-0 win in the 1st division match on 1st March 1980. The winning run at Boghead continued, although playing in different leagues meant that the clubs missed each other for a number of seasons. 12th May 1984 brought about another 1st division match - new style - and another 3-0 win for the Honest Men.

On 19th September 1992 Ayr continued their 3-0 sequence again in the 1st division and Ayr had a good 3-1 win in a division 2 match during season 1996/97 although a few home matches had been lost to he Sons in the intervening period. 

The clubs played in different divisions since that time and had only a few cup matches to talk about - one however, was on the 50th anniversary of Ayr’s record win against Dumbarton again in a league cup match, Sons recording a 3-0 win on 13th August 2002. 

The clubs found themselves together in division 2 for season 2004/05 when United lost 1-0 the first match of the season on 7th August followed by a poor 1-1 draw later in the season.

15th April 2006 saw the two clubs line up for a vital relegation decider at Boghead. United stormed into a seemingly unassailable 3-0 lead early in the match, but Sons brought it back with three goals in the second half. The end to end match was finally settled in United’s favour with a 5-4 win, sending the Sons to the third division.