Locale Ayrshire First meeting 14 September 1910 Most wins Kilmarnock (189) | Teams Ayr United, Kilmarnock Meetings total 255 | |
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Stadiums Rugby Park, Somerset Park | ||
The Ayrshire Derby is a derby match between the two senior Scottish football sides based in Ayrshire: Ayr United and Kilmarnock.
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The first match was held on 14 September 1910, in the same year that Ayr United were formed. This game was the final of the Ayrshire League in the 1909-10 season, and finished in a 4-4 draw. Ayr United were the first of the clubs to record a win the following season. The six most recent meetings took place in national cup competitions because Kilmarnock have played in a higher division than Ayr since 1993. Up until 1998, both clubs competed in a local cup competition, the Ayrshire Cup, which also involved local junior sides.
The current record for Ayrshire derby games stands at 189 wins for Kilmarnock and 66 for Ayr United.
In January 2009, the two clubs met for the first time in over seven years. They were drawn together in the Scottish Cup at Somerset Park. The game finished 2-2, with Kilmarnock twice taking the lead and Ayr United equalising twice, with the final goal of the game scored by substitute Ayr striker Alex Williams in injury time. Ayr keeper Stephen Grindlay also saved a penalty kick from Kilmarnock's Allan Russell. In the replay at Rugby Park, Ayr United took the lead with a goal from Bryan Prunty, which television replays confirmed had involved the use of his hand. However, Kilmarnock won the tie 3-1 with goals from Simon Ford (twice) and Moroccan Medhi Taouil. This was Kilmarnock's first victory in the derby in a senior competition for seventeen years.
The previous meeting was a Scottish League Cup tie in October 2001. Ayr United had midfielder Paul Sheerin sent off early in the second half, playing the rest of the 90 minutes and extra time with ten men. However, no goals were scored in open play, and Ayr United won 5-4, with Chris Innes of Kilmarnock missing the vital spot-kick. Previously, Ayr United scored 3-0 and 2-0 wins in the Scottish Cup in 1998-99 and 1997–98, the latter bringing to an end Kilmarnock's reign as the cup holders. In the 1998-99 match Andy Walker scored two penalties, the second of them being chipped over the Kilmarnock goalkeeper Gordon Marshall.
Leagues
The last league meeting between the sides was on 20 March 1993 at Rugby Park, finishing in a 1-1 draw. Since then, Kilmarnock have played in the Scottish Premier League and Ayr in the First or Second Divisions. By contrast, in the late 1970s Ayr United played in the then-top tier of Scottish league football with Kilmarnock in the division below.
Ayrshire Cup
The two clubs have both won this local competition on many occasions, but the last time it was contested was in 1998, when Kilmarnock won 4-2 at Rugby Park after trailing 2-0 at half time. This match was made even more special with Kilmarnock left back Dylan Kerr jumping into the Moffat stand to celebrate his superb strike to make it 3-2. The trophy has been won by Kilmarnock on 42 occasions and by Ayr United on 27.
Other matches
Between 2003 and 2005, a series of annual one-off friendly matches were held in October, sponsored by a local commercial radio station and named the West Sound Trophy. Kilmarnock won the first match at Rugby Park 1-0; the following year at Somerset Park Ayr United won on penalties, having earlier been 2-0 behind; and in the final match Kilmarnock won 4-0 at home.
2011-12 League Cup Semi-Final
On 28 January 2012 Ayr United and Kilmarnock met at Hampden for the League Cup semi final. Kilmarnock won 1-0, thanks to a 109th-minute goal from Dean Shiels. This was the first time that the Ayrshire derby had taken place in the semi finals of a major competition and it was also the first derby to be played at a neutral venue. The game also achieved the highest recorded crowd of any Ayrshire derby with 25,057 people travelling to Hampden Park.