Dundee United manager Robbie Neilson is looking for Ayr to do them ‘a turn’ by keeping the title door ajar.
While the Tangerines will be preparing for their own tricky trip – to Inverness the following day – Championship leaders Ross County will be down at Somerset Park on Friday night.
Neilson has gone public with his view that it would be “one of the biggest disasters you will ever see” should the Staggies blow it.
Following their lacklustre goalless draw with relegation-threatened Partick Thistle last weekend, County still sit six points ahead of United with three fixtures remaining in the regular season.
Should the Dingwall men lose to the Honest Men, though, the Tangerines would then have the chance to close the gap to three with two to play.
The permutations are numerous and it might, of course, already be game over for United as regards the flag by the time they kick off against ICT.
However, Neilson has suggested he believes Ian McCall’s side have a chance of keeping the pot boiling.
The United manager, who has concluded a pre-contract deal with Ayr right-back Liam Smith, said: “What will be will be on Friday night.
“Ross County are down at Ayr and we are hoping Ayr do us a turn.
“If they do that then great and it’s then up to us to take advantage.
“The key thing for us is to keep winning.
“If we can do that then we might have a chance (of catching County).
“The worst-case scenario is we will be second and in a good position going into the play-offs, on the back of a few victories.
“Ayr are a very good team.
“Ian has a good squad down there and they have a top goalscorer who can take his chances (Lawrence Shankland).
“They also have one really good full-back (Smith) and another decent one!
“I like their team and the way they play.
“I particularly like their energy and the way they go after the opposition.
“Somerset Park is a good play to play your football – I always enjoyed going down there.
“The last time when we were there it was blowing an absolute gale so hopefully the weather is better for the teams this time.
“You get a good atmosphere, too, so we will see how it goes on Friday night.
“No matter what happens, though, we have a tough game ourselves at Inverness and we will be focused on that.”
United produced a strong second-half display to beat Ayr at Tannadice last Friday night and Neilson added: “It was a good result for us.
“I think it showed the importance of having a strong bench because we had a few injuries but are getting boys back now.
“What we had were attacking options and when Pav (Pavol Safranko) and Nicky (Clark) came on it changed the game in our favour.
“It is difficult to dominate games in the way we would like to because you are playing against good sides in this league.
“This division is so tight that everyone can beat everyone else so you are not going to be turning teams over every week.
“It is not a case of being four or five-nil up and on easy street.
“Our run-in is Inverness, Falkirk and Morton and it’s tough because you have one side fighting to get a play-off spot and the other two battling for their lives at the bottom.
“It makes every game interesting because there is so much at stake in each one.
“What could be in our favour is that it will also mean there should not be any easy games for County.”
