Lee Bullen aims to please supporters with Ayr United's first Hampden trip in a decade

The Honest Men travel to Falkirk for a place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals

Author: Gabriel AntoniazziPublished 13th Mar 2023

Ayr United manager Lee Bullen wants to "put a smile" on fans' faces by reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final for the first time in 21 years.

The Honest Men travel to Falkirk this evening for the final quarter-final.

Celtic, Rangers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle have already progressed.

Ayr's last trip to Hampden was over a decade ago but victory at The Falkirk Stadium would secure that this evening.

Bullen wants his team to return to the national stadium for the supporters: "More than anything it's an opportunity for us to put a smile on the fans' faces.

"I don't want to look too far beyond the Falkirk game but we all know the opportunity is there to have the potential day at Hampden so that has to be at the back of your mind.

"Ultimately there's a big wall in front of us in dark blue that are thinking the same as us."

Ayr's route to the final has seen them beat Pollock Juniors, Cove Rangers and Elgin City - all teams below them in the league pyramid.

Bullen's side are once again facing lower league opposition - The Bairns are second in League One - and are favourites to progress.

Bullen is not fazed by the tag though: "We've had to handle that expectation from our supporters (in previous rounds).

"We are a lot of people's favourites.

"The expectation level will be on us because we are third in the Championship."

The Ayrshire club come in to the game off the back of a big win away to Greenock Morton last weekend - their first victory in four matches.

Falkirk lost 2-0 to Dunfermline six days ago having won their previous four games.

The last time the two sides met was in 2019, with Ayr running out 2-1 winners.

Kick off this evening is at 7.45pm.