Ayr United take on Premier League club Aberdeen at Somerset Park on Wednesday 27th August in a CIS Cup match. High flying Ayr have never found matches aginst the Dons easy in recent times although history shows it wasnt always that way.
It was 25th October 1913 when Ayr United made their first journey to the Granite City to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie Stadium recording a 2-2 draw. United managed to repeat the effort the following season drawing 1-1 on 9th January 1915.
Home was a different matter and wins were coming easier as the 2-1 win showed on 18th April 1914 and the 1-0 win the following season on 12th September 1914. Nevertheless, United had an early momentum going drawing 1-1 once again on 25th September 1915 whilst winning 2-1 at home later in the season.
By the time that Ayr won at home 1-0 on 30th September 1916 the Reds must have wondered what they could do to beat Ayr. This changed on 6th January 1917 when United lost 1-0 at Pittodrie. The Dons continued this run on 13th September 1919 with a 2-1 win with Ayr struggling to win drawing on the next three occasions (0-0 on 3rd April 1920 and 2-2 3rd January 1921 at Ayr and 0-0 at Aberdeen on 11th September 1920).
Subsequent seasons at Aberdeen brought a 1-0, 4-1 and 1-0 defeats with draws he order of the day at Somerset Park. Aberdeen wn emphatically 4-1 on 3rd February 1923 although United won 2-1 at Ayr on 10th March 1923. Ayr came close to a win, losing 1-0 on 12th January 1924.
It was ironic that United's breakthrough victory at Pittodrie on 18th March 1925 by 1-0 was in a season when they were relegated to division 2.
When they returned to face Aberdeen on 9th September 1929 the results were no different, Ayr losing 2-1 that day and 4-1 again the following season.
7th February 1931 again saw a defeat, this time by 3-1, and a 5-1 defeat occurred on 19th September 1931. Pittodrie was certainly not Ayr's favourite venue and a 5-0 defeat was suffered on 7th January 1933 and a more humiliating 8-0 thrashing at the beginning of the 1933/34 season on 12th August 1933. The catalogue of defeats was becoming embarrasing as the Dons thrashed United again, by 7-1, on 16th February 1935 and 3-0 the following season. After a bit of respite in the second division, United tried again on 3rd January 1938, but 4-0 to the Reds of Aberdeen was rather familiar. The last league match before the second world war, on 15th October 1938 saw Ayr at least score in a 5-2 defeat.
On 25th May 1940 Ayr sent a first team to Aberdeen to play in the Scottish 2nd XI Cup Final, 1st leg. The 1-1 score was not a surprise when it is noted that Aberdeen also sent in a first team. On 8th February 1947 United had another heavy 8-0 defeat as the first division Dons rampaged the second division club in a Scottish Cup 2nd round match.
20th October was also a bleak day as United lost 6-1 in a first division match at home but the return match on 9th February 1957 at Pittodrie brought about a 2-2 score. United had found themselves 2-0 down by 33 minutes but Peter Price and Willie Paton had squared it by half time. However, once again a good result at Aberdeen signalled Ayr's relegation to division 2 where they stayed until the league encounter of 30th April 1960. Even in a season when Ayr had beaten Celtic and Rangers away, they still could not overcome Aberdeen and they lost 2-0. They managed a rare draw at home on 1st October 1960 by 1-1.
A further 3-1 defeat the following season meant the Ayr had achieved a win and two draws at Pittodrie in 42 years, and one of those draws was officially a 2nd XI match. Second division football did not meant that Ayr avoided that perilous journey to Aberdeen. Surprisingly Ayr United brought of one of their big cup shocks in the 3rd round Scottish Cup match at Pittodrie on 15th February 1964 with a 2-1 victory.
Aberdeen won 2-0 in the first division match of 15th October 1966. 4th February 1967 saw United lose 5-2 at home in a season destined for relegation. Again second division football intervened and a 1-0 defeat on 25th February 1970 was just as expected, as indeed was the 4-1 beating the following season. Season 1971/72 saw another huge defeat for Ayr, this time by 7-0 on 8th April 1972 and modern day visits to Pittodrie seemed to be repeating pre-war visits when the Dons won 1-0 on 12th February 1973.
2-1 and 3-0 defeats on 24th April 1974 and 12th October 1974 respectively confirmed this view and the advent of the Premier League did nothing to change Ayr's luck with a 3-1 loss on 27th September 1975 followed by a 2-1 defeat on 31st January 1976. There was Premier League success at home, however, with a 1-0 win for Ayr on 29th November 1975 and a draw at home on 10th April 1976.
The following season Ayr were unlucky to lose 1-0 on 24th November 1976 but it only served to fire them up for the second visit of the season on 26th March 1977.
At last the modern day followers of the Honest Men had a victory to celebrate when Ayr came away with a 2-0 win that day. A 0-0 draw and a 4-1 defeat the following season served to show that season 1976/77 was merely an aberration.
United's relegation from the Premier League in season 1977/78 saw the end of league matches at Pittodrie until the present day.
United did manage a 3-3 home draw with the Dons in a League Cup quarter final tie on 8th November 1978 but lost the second leg by 3-1. The clubs were drawn again together in the Scottish Cup 3rd round that season and Aberdeen ran out impressive 6-2 winners at Pittodrie on 26th February 1979..
The two sides met on 21st August 1985 in the Granite City for a Skol Cup 2nd Round match and it was no surprise that Aberdeen ran out 5-0 winners.
United go into tomorrow's match after a confident start to the season, but a replay maybe as much as they can hope for.