Published: Tuesday, 17th February, 2009 3:45pm

Wise words from skipper

by Stewart McConnell

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SKIPPER Chris Aitken is warning his Ayr United team mates to ensure Somerset Park remains a fortress as the Honest Men aim to preserve their home unbeaten league run at home to fellow Barr"s Irn-Bru Division Two title challengers Brechin City.

And the Somerset Park captain, whose side had no game on Saturday as scheduled clash at East Fife fell victim to some extreme weather conditions on the East Coast, is looking for the perfect pick-me up following the defeat at Alloa Athletic a week past on Saturday.

He told Sportscene: 'We know we are in for a tough game as Brechin will be coming down here to get a result but we were disappointed to lose at Alloa, especially after we got back into the game but they got a late penalty to seal victory and the aim must be to take three points on Saturday.

'Somerset Park has become something of a fortress this season, we have only lost one game there this season and that was the CIS Cup tie against Aberdeen. So we are looking to maintain that and must aim to pick up the three points to keep the pressure on Raith Rovers.

'We are still very much in it, we have still to play them and we have a game in hand over them so if we won those we could go back to the top of the table. Although we had no game on Saturday we had a very good training session instead.'

Boss Brian Reid warns a tough test lies ahead against a revitalised City side.

He said: 'Their new manager Jim Duffy has them playing good football and it will be a tough game, there"s no doubt about it. But we have been playing well at Somerset Park and have to look to take all three points.

'We didn"t play in the first half at Alloa although we were better after the break but it was tough getting two penalties awarded against us.

'I have told the players we have to play for the full 90 minutes. It was frustrating not playing on Saturday as the game would have gone ahead had it been Ayr but there was nothing we could do about that and the other good thing is that we have a full squad for Saturday, there are no injury problems to report.'