AIRDRIEONIANS 1

McGregor (67) AYR UTD 2

Chalmers (21), Dowds (53)

Lee Bullen urged his Ayr hopefuls to use this victory over Airdrie as a springboard in their quest to climb the Championship table.

Bullen was thrilled after watching the Somerset Park side overcome Airdrie thanks to goals in either half from on-loan Dundee United ace Logan Chalmers and on-loan Partick Thistle star Anton Dowds.

The Honest Men were in the driving seat before surviving a late scare when Lewis McGregor pulled one back for Rhys McCabe’s men in 67 minutes, but Bullen believe his players can get back to where he feels they belong in the coming weeks.

He said: “It’s no mean feat to come to Airdrie and win. Not many teams do that.

“We’ve had a bad start to the season. I hold my hands up to that.

“But we’re only three points off the play-off places.

“This shows what we can do and we need to try and build on this.”

Ayr could have fallen behind in just six minutes when McGregor was sent clean through by Mason Hancock, but keeper Charlie Albinson dived full-length to parry the striker’s effort.

Ayr soon began to find their feet and took the lead midway through the first half.

Substitute Megwa was at fault as he sold a pass straight to Jay Senga who, in turn, slipped possession wide to

Jamie Murphy.

Murphy angled a deep cross to the far post where Chalmers was lurking to finish calmly with his left foot effort beyond Josh Rae.

Ayr wasted no time in grabbing a second goal within eight minutes of the restart.

A short corner led to Roy Syla finding Dowds who steadied himself before firing an unstoppable strike into Rae’s top corner from outside the penalty area.

McGregor then threw the hosts a lifeline in 67 minutes. The youngster was first to react after Albinson had parried a shot inside the box and made no mistake.

Deflated Diamonds boss Rhys McCabe said: “It took us too long to get going.

“We allowed Ayr too much time on the ball and paid the price for that.”