Ayr United 1 v 3 Inverness CT: Match Review

Gary Naysmith’s Ayr fell to a 3-1 home defeat to Inverness on Saturday.

Luis Longstaff and Ryan Duncan gave the visitors a two-goal buffer before Owen Stirton pulled one back for Ayr just before the half-hour mark.

Adam Mackinnon then rounded things off with 20 minutes to go.

The result leaves the Honest Men in 8th place in the Scottish Championship.

The experts from Andy’s Bet Club will be reviewing all of our games in the 2026/27 season, and you can find more of the free football tips they offer on their website.

Attack

Inverness edged the xG battle on Saturday, racking up 1.25 xG to Ayr’s 1.06.

Ayr did have more shots (10) than Inverness (6), but it was the visitors who had more shots on target (6 to Ayr’s 2).

Owen Stirton’s goal in the 27th minute came in at 0.19 xG, assisted by Ross Taylor, his only assist of the match from an xA value of 0.30. 

Ayr’s shots were split fairly evenly across the pitch, with 22 attacks arriving down the right flank at 41% and carrying 0.43 xG, more end product than the 16 attacks and 0.33 xG down the left.

Defence

Inverness had nine shots, six of them on target, and posted 1.25 xG against Ayr United's 1.06.

Harry Stone made three saves in net for Ayr, including three described as reflex stops, and was beaten three times from those six shots faced.

Ayr’s PPDA (passes per defensive action) stood at 8.4 against Inverness’ 12.3, meaning Ayr made a defensive action roughly every eight opponent passes compared with one every twelve for Inverness. 

When it came to duels, Ayr won 72 of 132 (55%), including 19 of 25 aerial duels (76%). 

Inverness, on the other hand, won 58 of their 132 duels (44%) and just six of 25 in the air (24%). 

Possession

Gary Naysmith’s Ayr had the majority of the ball on Saturday with 61% possession, rising to 65% in the second half.

Ayr’s territory produced 74 passes into the final third, 36 of them completed (49%), more than Inverness’ 53 attempts and 16 completions (30%).

Passes into the penalty area told a different story, as Ayr found the box with only five of 22 attempts (23%), while Inverness found the box on six of 14 (43%).

Set pieces

Ayr won eight corners to Inverness’ five on Saturday, with five of them resulting in a shot.

The single Ayr goal came from that route, with Owen Stirton converting in the 27th minute after a corner from Ross Taylor.

Players

Owen Stirton scored the only Ayr goal from 27/13 successful actions (48%) across 87 minutes, adding three shots for an xG total of 0.19. 

Ross Taylor provided the assist and completed 25 of his 48 actions (52%), with two key passes recorded on the day. 

Luke McBeth was Ayr United's busiest outfield player, completing 68 of 96 actions (71%), and won seven of 12 duels (58%).

Conclusion

Ayr had the majority of possession and even had more shots than Inverness.

However, the Honest Men could only muster two shots from the 11 they had, whereas Inverness managed six on target from nine efforts.

Gary Naysmith’s side will need to be more efficient with their chances ahead of Friday’s clash with Queen’s Park.

Check out Andy’s Bet Club for further match analysis alongside stats and tips for all major competitions.