# 2017–18 Ayr United F.C. season

The 2017–18 season was Ayr United’s 108th season of competitive football and their first season back in League One following their relegation from the Championship in the 2016–17 season. Ayr also competed in the League Cup, Scottish Cup and the Challenge Cup.

## Summary
### Season

In their first season back in the third–tier of Scottish football, Ayr United finished in first place and were promoted as Champions back to the Scottish Championship after only one season in League One.

## Results and fixtures

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Scottish Cup
## Squad statistics
### Appearances

    As of 28 April 2018
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | League One | League One | 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 | Jordan Hart | 33 | 0 | 25+0 | 0 | 5+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Chris Higgins | 26 | 3 | 19+0 | 3 | 5+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Patrick Boyle | 36 | 1 | 26+1 | 1 | 5+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | SCO | Brian Gilmour | 19 | 1 | 7+7 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Michael Rose | 40 | 3 | 33+1 | 2 | 2+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 1 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | SCO | Andy Geggan | 34 | 6 | 25+1 | 4 | 5+0 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | SCO | Michael Moffat | 45 | 13 | 30+5 | 11 | 5+0 | 2 | 1+1 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Robbie Crawford | 28 | 5 | 21+1 | 3 | 4+0 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | SCO | Craig Moore | 41 | 27 | 15+16 | 19 | 5+0 | 3 | 2+0 | 2 | 3+0 | 3 |
| 10 | MF | SCO | Alan Forrest | 34 | 9 | 16+13 | 7 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 | 2+0 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | SCO | Declan McDaid | 43 | 13 | 28+6 | 6 | 5+0 | 3 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 4 |
| 12 | MF | SCO | Craig McGuffie | 38 | 4 | 6+23 | 3 | 2+2 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | SCO | David Ferguson | 34 | 0 | 21+4 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | SCO | James Hilton | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | SCO | Jamie Adams | 30 | 5 | 21+4 | 5 | 3+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | SCO | Lawrence Shankland | 33 | 29 | 30+0 | 26 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 3 |
| 18 | MF | SCO | Stuart Faulds | 8 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 19 | GK | NZL | Ellis Hare-Reid | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 20 | GK | SCO | Lyle Avci | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 20 | GK | SCO | Jack Ruddy | 13 | 0 | 11+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | SCO | David Waite | 1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | SCO | Kieran Balfour | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | SCO | Ross Docherty | 23 | 1 | 14+2 | 0 | 5+0 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | SCO | Leon Murphy | 11 | 1 | 0+5 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 1+0 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | SCO | Luke McCowan | 5 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | SCO | Craig Reid | 29 | 0 | 19+4 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | SCO | Mark Kerr | 14 | 0 | 14+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | SCO | Steven Bell | 15 | 1 | 15+0 | 1 | 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 |
| 1 | Ayr United (C, P) | 36 | 24 | 4 | 8 | 92 | 42 | +50 | 76 | Promotion to the Championship |
| 2 | Raith Rovers | 36 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 68 | 32 | +36 | 75 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 3 | Alloa Athletic (O, P) | 36 | 17 | 9 | 10 | 56 | 43 | +13 | 60 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 4 | Arbroath | 36 | 17 | 8 | 11 | 70 | 51 | +19 | 59 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 5 | Stranraer | 36 | 16 | 5 | 15 | 58 | 66 | −8 | 53 | |

### 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 | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | H | H | A | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | W | L | L | D | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | W | L | D | W | L | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | W |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |

### League Cup Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | AYR | KIL | CLY | ANN | DUM |
| 1 | Ayr United (Q) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 12 | Qualification for the Second Round | — | 1–0 | 5–1 | — | — |
| 2 | Kilmarnock (Q) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 9 | Qualification for the Second Round | — | — | 4–2 | — | 3–0 |
| 3 | Clyde | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 6 | | — | — | — | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| 4 | Annan Athletic | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 2 | | 1–6 | 0–2 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Dumbarton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 1 | | 1–3 | — | — | 0–0p | — |