Partick Thistle progressed to the Premiership play-off semi-final stage on Friday night after overcoming Scott Brown’s Ayr United.
Thistle lost the first leg 1-0 at home to the Honest Men on Tuesday night as Jamie Murphy’s goal separated the two teams heading into the second leg.
Ayr were slight favourites with their one-goal advantage but it was Thistle who stole the show and set up a semi-final tie with Livingston.
Co-interim manager and striker Brian Graham scored a brace to send the travelling Thistle fans wild at Somerset Park – and the 2-1 aggregate result left Hoops hero Brown fuming with his players.
Scott Brown’s fiery Ayr United interview and future admission
Brown attacked his Ayr United stars as he questioned their ‘desire and mentality’ to win the game, while also confirming he will now think about his future as boss of the club.
He told the BBC’s Sportscene show: “You’re not going to win a game of football if you’ve got 11 shots and you don’t hit the target. It’s disappointing mentality-wise.
“Late on, they weren’t even trying to win the game if I’m honest. (Lee) Ashcroft comes off and we’ve got a five versus two at the back.
“Just desire late on and a little bit of mentality because we are a young team. But we’ve got to have people wanting to take control and want to actually win the ball.
“They get three contacts in the box which Brian (Graham) heads in, Jakubiak touches and then Brian at 37 years old who has played two games in three days and he outthinks and outsmarts our centre-halves.
“Throughout the game, we were fine. It comes down to mentality, it just comes down to the willingness, desire to win the game and we weren’t good enough in the final third. That’s on me.
“I’ve got to have a long hard think about things now and see where I go from here. I’ve got to take a little bit of time to think about the game and the situation because watching that, it’s not really my team and that was the disappointing factor.
“We’ll just see where we go together.”
Brown’s stats as Ayr United manager
One of Celtic’s most decorated players, Brown has won 26 of his 48 games in charge of Ayr United, losing just 13 of those. Ultimately, it’s been a decent season for the Honest Men, but they fell short at the vital stage of the campaign.
| Competition | Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Points per Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish Championship | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 63 | 1.75 |
| Scottish League Cup | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | X | X |
| Scottish Challenge Cup | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | X |
| Scottish FA Cup | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | X |
| Premiership Play-offs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | X | X |
| Total | 48 | 26 | 9 | 13 | 87 | 1.75 |
In September 2024, Brown signed a contract extension to remain with Ayr United until 2027. However that now appears to be in doubt.
Brown may now not have the appetite to launch another offensive at the play-offs next season having outed his whole dressing room on Friday night.
Usually, that doesn’t end well and he could well walk away from the post and find a fresh challenge elsewhere.
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