As Ayr were swept away at Firhill, the management of Ayr was sure that the shortage of bodies was not the cause.
SCOTT Brown refused to blame the early season pile-up in his treatment room for derailing Ayr’s start to the campaign.
United were handed a sound beating at Firhill today as Partick Thistle eased to a lucrative Premier Sports Cup quarter final with Celtic.
Ayr have found themselves without a raft of first team stars and had to patch together a side which included just four outfield subs in Maryhill.
Scott McMann, who missed out through illness, was the latest body blow for Brown who also had to make do without the suspended Ethan Walker against the Jags.
Ben Dempsey, Jamie Murphy, Kevin Holt and Anton Dowds are all big name misses for United who are desperately in search of a settled side.
Stuart Banningan, who has missed much of pre-season, did give Brown a boost by returning to play an hour against his old side in the heart of midfield.
But Ayr were never at the races as Thistle sensed it was their day. Aidan Fitzpatrick rattled the post from the edge of the box before the Jags had the ball in the net moments later only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
United were rocking and the game was barely 18 minutes old when Shaun Want – their only recognised centre half – limped off after a foot race with Logan Chalmers.
A major reshuffle saw Curtis Main step off the bench, with Mark McKenzie dropping to right back, as Ayr tried to ride a rough spell while reorganising.
But they couldn’t make it to half time as Thistle’s constant pressure told when a Chalmers corner was headed home by Dan O’Reilly.
The Jags quickly doubled up when Chalmers wasn’t closed down on the edge of the box and his rocket appeared to take a touch from Tony Watt on its way past David Mitchell.
Ayr were on the ropes and changed system at the break – with McKenzie moving to the right hand side of the back three – as he continued his tour of the pitch.
Thistle missed more chances to increase their lead as they coasted through the second half, with Watt and Fitzpatrick spurning the best of them.
Brown admits the return of McMann next week – along with the expected comeback of Holt – will be much needed stability for Ayr’s defence for the trip to Morton.
But he insists United cannot point the finger of blame squarely at their missing bodies after three poor performances which have raised the stakes around Somerset.
The boss said: “Regardless of the injuries we have, individuals can still do better.
“It didn’t help us losing Shaun so early on. And I know formations can change during the game, but the basics are that you’ve got to have a desire, a belief and a fight to go and win second balls
They put a ball in the box for the first goal and we’ve got three against their one. That’s the second time it’s happened against Partick – the last time it was Brian Graham who scored. This time it’s O’Reilly. Did we get any free headers in their box? No.
“There needs to be a spirit and a belief, but we played scared. It’s hard to put that into people, you need to have that within you. But it doesn’t matter what we put into people, we needed to be better on the ball.
“We had more control of the game in the second half but I can’t recall their keeper making a real save. So we need to make better decisions both individually and collectively as a team.
However, this is not a game of blame; I am solely to fault. In retrospect, I can say that Marco (Rus) and the crew probably ought to have started. He had a drive about him and looked sharp.
“Pressing is the key to our entire game, but we didn’t do it today. Ironically, after winning a few bouts and getting off to a decent start for the first five or ten minutes, we lacked motivation.
