PARTING GIFT
Shankland is out to leave Ayr in style
WATCHING the incredible goalscoring exploits of Lawrence Shankland has left Ian McCall feeling more like manager of Melchester Rovers than the boss of Ayr United.
His red-hot striker has emerged as a Roy of the Rovers-type figure at Somerset Park, scoring 29 goals last season during the title-winning campaign in League One and now 34 this term.
The 23-year-old’s strike rate may have slowed down in an injury-hit second half of the Championship campaign but he has still managed six goals in 13 appearances since January.
Now fully fit again, Shankland will write his final chapter for the club in the Premiership play-offs before heading on to pastures new under freedom of contract this summer.
And what better way for Ayr’s shooting star to sign off than by firing the Honest Men to the top flight for the first time since 1978?
‘Lawrence Shankland will go in the summer — but he will go with our best wishes,’ McCall told
Sportsmail ahead of tonight’s visit of Inverness Caley Thistle for the quarter-final first leg.
‘I’ve actually heard some people say he has not been playing as well in the second half of the season — but he has been playing just fine.
‘It’s just that, for the first year and a bit of his time here, it was Roy of the Rovers stuff he was producing.
‘He was scoring every time he played. It was just mental, really. I’ve never known that kind of thing in my 20 years in football management.
‘Lawrence has been out injured a couple of times in the second half of the season and he’s still scored 34 goals.
‘Without his injuries, I think you would be looking at him scoring well over 40 goals.
‘But he is raring to go and there will be a freshness about him after playing 70 minutes and scoring against Alloa at the weekend.
‘The fans here think the world of Lawrence Shankland. He thinks the world of the fans, too.
‘Hopefully, he will be back here for a couple of years at the end of his career — just like Stephen Dobbie has done at Queen of the South.’
Shankland’s exploits have underpinned what has been a fairytale season for Ayr, with McCall performing minor miracles on a modest budget.
Tipped as relegation contenders before a ball was kicked, his side soared to the top of the table before falling down to fourth place on the last day of the season.
‘Everyone thought it would be a straight shootout between us and Alloa for ninth and tenth place,’ said McCall. ‘But we are well above that. In the first half of the season, it was championshipwinning form from us.
‘The third quarter, we had players involved in pre-contracts and injuries. That did not help.
‘But in the last quarter, we have taken 12 points, so our form has been okay.
‘We have exceeded expectations this season but there will still be pressure on both teams in the play-offs. These games are to be enjoyed.’
Ayr have been unfortunate with injuries, with Steven Bell, Craig Moore, Jamie Adams and Andy Geggan all missing.
But McCall is backing his depleted squad to pack a punch in the play-off against John Robertson’s Highlanders.
‘I’d like to have been able to rest more players but we’ve had so many injuries,’ he said. ‘We are really down to the bare bones. Three of the players who are missing are all of a certain type. They are all very aggressive. We will miss them. ‘We’ve got four defenders fit and three out. But we’ll just get on with it and have a real go. Michael Rose has been outstanding all season for us. He will be ready to face Inverness and we’ve got young Luke McCowan, who has burst onto the scene in the last couple of games.
‘He’s got a big future ahead of him in the game and he’s putting real pressure on people.’
Inverness have won three and drawn one of the four league meetings between the teams this season. But McCall hopes Somerset Park will be bouncing this evening as he aims to end Ayr’s 41-year absence from the top flight.
‘Ayr United is a great, traditional football club,’ he said.
‘Somerset Park reminds me of the old Brockville when I played there for Falkirk and it only takes around 3,000 fans in here for the atmosphere to be tremendous.
‘Hopefully, we will have that against Inverness. It would be pretty remarkable if we could take this club up to the top flight for the first time since 1978. But we will have to just wait and see.’