Penalty miss from former Sheffield Wednesday man the match-turning moment as Lee Bullen’s Ayr United fall short of historic win

Lee Bullen’s second tier Ayr United lost 2-1 to third tier Falkirk at the quarter-final stage in excruciating circumstances, having lead the match at half-time and having watched Kai Kennedy’s match-winning effort loop in off the head of Frankie Musonda as late as the 83rd minute.

The game had swung on a penalty miss by another ex-Wednesday man, Chris Maguire, who in his fourth Ayr appearance smashed one against the stanchion of the woodwork just two minutes prior to Falkirk’s winning goal.

It would have been the first time Ayr had reached the semi-final of the Scottish Cup for 21 years.

Bullen has been praised for his work in taking Ayr from last year’s Championship relegation scrap to the battle for promotion to the Scottish Premier League, though they have suffered something of a wobble in recent weeks and sit in fourth place, well within reach of the promotion places.

A visibly emotional Bullen said afterwards: “I’ve just stood in front of the players and told them that in their careers they’ll have so many highs and so many lows. Tonight these players will remember tonight’s game as one of the lowest points in their careers.

“It’s an emotional side of things, those opportunities that pass you by. Credit to Falkirk. We’re obviously devastated but we cannot allow this game to define our season. We have nine games to go and we’re in a position to achieve something historic for our football club.

“It doesn’t matter how young, old, experienced or inexperienced you are, football has a way of throwing you under the bus sometimes.

“Chris is going to take that personally tonight, but it’s not just down to Chris, is it? We had some hard luck with the deflection, could we have dealt with the penalty better? There are various bits and pieces.

“It wasn’t to be. That’s a sore one for everybody involved with the football club, but we have to dust ourselves down.”

Ayr will have been further stung by the semi-final draw. With Rangers drawn against Celtic, Falkirk were drawn to play against Ayr’s fellow Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

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