Storm Ciara wrecked havoc at Somerset Park, as Ayr looked to claim their second Premiership upset in this seasons Scottish Cup. The Perth side travelled to South Ayrshire looking to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since they won the competition back in 2014.
Jason Kerr was short on a pass to Liam Craig which allowed Stephen Kelly to capitalise and drive with the ball at the heart of the Saints defence before laying it off to Luke McCowan who cut inside onto his left foot and unleashed a 25-yarder at the visitors goal, Jamie McCart was equal to it, blocking it with his head, however it went straight up in the air and subsequently incited a stramash in the box, and after a couple of fresh air swipes the ball ended up in the gloves of Zander Clark.
Ayr got a second chance it the opening moments, this time they would take it. Ross Doohan's long kick found Aaron Drinan, who flicked it onto Alan Forrest and he played it back to Grant Gillespie, the former Hamilton Accie found the Irish U21 international Drinan, who would be surprised the space he was gifted by the Saints defence, but it allowed him to steady himself and find the bottom corner to open his Ayr account and give the Honest Men a 1-0 lead.
Jason Kerr tried to get Saints into the game with a ball over the top to Stevie May, the wind blew the ball into the corner where some nice interplay between him, Ali McCann and David Wotherspoon, gave the Canadian time and space to cross, Aaron Muirhead was first to it, but could only put it into the bottom corner, starting his short but disastrous afternoon.
The day got worse for Muirhead when only a few minutes later he found his way into Referee Steven McLean's notebook after bundling over Callum Hendry.
Muirhead's day would end early when just 3 minutes after being booked he went in high, with studs showing and out of control for a tackle on Liam Craig, giving the referee no option but give him his marching orders.
From the resulting free-kick the ball was worked down the Saints right hand side and Drey Wright crossed it into the back post, where Hendry was waiting to head into the corner and give Saints a lead they would never relinquish. Barely 30 seconds after they went down to ten men, they went down 2-1.
Callum Hendry almost had a second goal when he forced Doohan into a good save after testing him by putting his free-kick from 20 yards out to the keepers side.
Ayr looked to be in self-destruct mode as Jordan Houston tested Doohan with an off target back pass that the keeper done well to get a foot to it and turn it round the post.
Saints were going for a third goal to kill the game off, veteran midfielders Wotherspoon and Craig both fired over the bar with long range efforts.
The visitors had a good chance to seal the game when, McCann won the ball well in the centre of the park and slid it out to Wright, the Englishman drove down the wing, and found the onrushing Wotherspoon, who cut inside Houston with a lovely ball roll, and almost caught Doohan out at his near post, with the Ayr stopper pushing the shot away for a corner.
The best chance of the second half came for the visitors when Liam Craig won the ball well from Gillespie, he then lifted a ball over the defence to find the substitute Isaiah Jones, the Middlesborough loanee went to steady himself but got a barge in the back by Sam Roscoe-Byrne, ref Steven McLean waved play on, which made the 1000 strong travelling support incensed.
But there was no reason to worry, the final whistle went and Saints were safely through to the quarter finals, where they will have the tough task of facing holders Celtic at McDiarmid Park on Sunday 1st March.
Ayr United: Ross Doohan; Jordan Houston, Aaron Muirhead, Steven Bell, Daniel Harvie; Grant Gillespie, Mark Kerr (Scott Tiffoney 54'), Stephen Kelly; Luke McCowan (Sam Roscoe-Byrne 28'), Alan Forrest, Aaron Drinan.
Scorers: Aaron Drinan 4'
Red Card: Aaron Muirhead 26'
St. Johnstone: Zander Clark; Anthony Ralston, Jason Kerr, Jamie McCart, Callum Booth; Drey Wright, Liam Craig, Ali McCann, David Wotherspoon; Stevie May (Isaiah Jones 85'), Callum Hendry (Chris Kane 78').
Scorer: Aaron Muirhead OG 18', Callum Hendry 27'
MOTM: Callum Hendry
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