# 2016–17 Ayr United F.C. season

The 2016–17 season was Ayr United's 107th season of competitive football and their first season back in the second tier of Scottish football, now known as the Championship. Ayr also competed in the League Cup, Scottish Cup and the Challenge Cup.

## Summary
### Season

In their first season back in the second tier of Scottish football, Ayr United finished in tenth place and were relegated back to League One after only one season in the Scottish Championship. Their relegation was confirmed on the final day of the season with a 2–1 away defeat to Raith Rovers.

## Results and fixtures

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Scottish League Cup
#### Group stage

Results

#### Knockout phase
### Scottish Cup
## Player statistics

    As of 6 May 2017
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Championship | Championship | League Cup | League Cup | Challenge Cup | Challenge Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | SCO | Greg Fleming | 49 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Nicky Devlin | 48 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Patrick Boyle | 41 | 0 | 26+3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | SCO | Brian Gilmour | 37 | 2 | 19+6 | 1 | 2+2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Michael Rose | 24 | 1 | 10+10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | IRL | Peter Murphy | 39 | 1 | 29+1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 8 | DF | SCO | Robbie Crawford | 37 | 3 | 24+3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 9 | DF | SCO | Craig Moore | 17 | 3 | 9+4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | SCO | Alan Forrest | 45 | 9 | 24+10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1+5 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Declan McDaid | 9 | 1 | 2+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | SCO | Gary Harkins | 40 | 6 | 30+2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | SCO | Paul Cairney | 42 | 6 | 27+3 | 5 | 4+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 15 | FW | FRA | Farid El Alagui | 11 | 3 | 8+3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | SCO | Jamie Adams | 25 | 2 | 16+2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | SCO | Kevin Nisbet | 20 | 2 | 11+9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | SCO | Daryll Meggatt | 43 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 19 | GK | SCO | Jordan Hart | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | SCO | Michael Wardrope | 11 | 1 | 2+3 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0+2 | 1 |
| 21 | MF | SCO | Craig McGuffie | 40 | 3 | 6+20 | 0 | 2+3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3+3 | 1 |
| 22 | DF | ENG | Conrad Balatoni | 39 | 3 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 23 | MF | SCO | Ross Docherty | 42 | 2 | 29 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | SCO | Scott McKenna | 14 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Players who left the club during the 2016–17 season ||||||||||
| 7 | FW | WAL | Jamie Thomas | 7 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Michael Donald | 13 | 0 | 1+5 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | IRL | Andy O'Connell | 15 | 2 | 1+7 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0+3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | FW | SCO | Sean McKenzie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | SCO | Craig McCracken | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | SCO | Andy Johnston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 6 | Queen of the South | 36 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 46 | 52 | −6 | 43 | |
| 7 | St Mirren | 36 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 52 | 56 | −4 | 39 | |
| 8 | Dumbarton | 36 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 46 | 56 | −10 | 39 | |
| 9 | Raith Rovers (R) | 36 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 35 | 52 | −17 | 39 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 10 | Ayr United (R) | 36 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 33 | 62 | −29 | 33 | Relegation to League One |

### Division summary

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | L | L | D | W | W | L | D | W | W | L | L | L | D | D | L | D | D | D | L | D | L | D | D | L | W | L | L | W | W | L | L | D | D | L | L |
| Position | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |

### League Cup table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | HAM | AYR | STM | LIV | EDI |
| 1 | Hamilton Academical (Q) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 9 | Qualification for the Second Round | — | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | — |
| 2 | Ayr United (Q) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 9 | Qualification for the Second Round | 2–1 | — | — | — | 1–0 |
| 3 | St Mirren | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 9 | | — | 1–0 | — | — | 3–0 |
| 4 | Livingston | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 3 | | — | 0–2 | 2–3 | — | — |
| 5 | Edinburgh City | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 0 | | 2–4 | — | — | 0–3 | — |