Dunfermline 0 Ayr United 2

Dunfermline came back down to Earth with a bump after a home loss to Ayr United. Despite enjoying the better of the early exchanges the Pars couldn`t score and were undone by two second half-strikes.

KDM Group East End Park witnessed its first game of 2025 with Dunfermline welcoming Ayr United following the rapid rearrangement of the fixture scheduled for Saturday but postponed due to the wintry weekend conditions. As predicted, the temperature had risen several notches but was still a number of degrees colder than Lanzarote. John McLaughlan continued his unexpected stint as interim manager and it was no surprise when he named an team unchanged from that which had won so well at Firhill.

Local boy Scott Brown made one change to the Ayr United team that had beaten Raith Rovers last time out, giving a start to Cole McKinnon who had arrived from Rangers on loan. His other recent signing Agbaire had to be satisfied with a place on the bench. The danger man would be former Morton striker George Oakley who had brought in the new year with a first half hat-trick.

Bene won the toss and opted to defend the Norrie McCathie end in the first half but the early action was at the other end, with the Pars winning a couple of quick corners, firstly from a blocked Lewis McCann cross and then a long-range effort from Chris Hamilton, which Harry Stone in the Ayr goal tipped over the bar. Ewan Otoo then burst forward to reach a Kane flick but couldn`t quite manage to divert the ball beyond Stone who pulled off a fine save.

The Pars continued to press without causing the Ayr defence any undue problems although Oakley incurred a head wound defending a corner and required sustained treatment before rejoining the action, sporting a bandage on his head to add to the one he was already wearing on his wrist, as well as a clean but numberless shirt.

Play became fragmented and the home crowd vocalised their frustration as the action was punctuated by a succession of fouls, with the Pars losing what early fluency they had exhibited. A further chance did appear when Patrick Reading failed to deal with a Tobi Oluwayemi clearance allowing Kane Ritchie-Hosler to put in a cross, but Chris Kane mistimed his leap and his header was off target.

The Pars keeper then picked out Ritchie-Hosler with a terrific driven clearance from hand, but the result was only a corner, from which Matty Todd tested Stone, who punched upwards rather than outwards, but was able to gather the ball at the second attempt.

At the other end Oluwayemi had little to do, a sliced Tommy Fogarty clearance that could have gone anywhere being the closest that Ayr came to opening the scoring. The half came to a conclusion with the Pars on the attack, but despite having the better of the play, they hadn`t been able to find the breakthrough.

Half Time: Dunfermline 0 Ayr United 0

There were no changes at the break, but the visitors started the second period on the front foot. A chipped corner beyond the back post saw Kane having to hook Stanger`s header off the line. The next corner was deeper and led to the game`s first yellow card when Dempsey tripped Ritchie Hosler after the ball had rebounded off the far corner flag.

The Pars were forced into their first change when Kieran Ngwenya went down injured. On came Mebude on the left side of the midfield diamond as Otoo dropped to left-back.

A deep ball down the line from Aaron Comrie released McCann who hit the bye-line and his cross was cleared off the goal-line just ahead of Todd`s arrival, before the yellow card count was equalised after Otoo was penalised for a strong tackle despite winning the ball.

Finally the deadlock was broken when Ayr took the lead and it was such a scrappy goal. First Oakley`s header bounced off the crossbar, the ball was only half cleared, a shot was blocked and finally the loose ball was stabbed home by Jay HENDERSON.

Further changes ensued with Josh Cooper and Taylor Sutherland replacing Kane and Todd followed by Hamilton making way for Chalmers, but with the Pars chasing an equaliser it was Ayr who scored their second in simple style. Connor McLennan was sent down the right and his deep cross was met by OAKLEY beyond the far post and he netted from close range.

The Pars needed a quick response and it seemed like they had it when Chalmers lofted a pass over the defence and Sutherland was onto it like a flash to net, but the assistant deemed him to have moved too quickly and raised his flag. Two shouts for a penalty were ignored before the visitors spurned a late chance to make it three when Jake Hastie prodded past the post following a late counter. McCann had one final chance from the edge of the box but couldn`t find any curl on the ball and his shot went harmlessly wide of the upright, to sum up what just hadn`t been the Pars` night.

DUNFERMLINE: Tobi Oluwayemi: Aaron Comrie, Tommy Fogarty, Kyle Benedictus (c), Kieran Ngwenya (Dapo Mebude 53): Chris Hamilton (Joe Chalmers 68), Kane Ritchie-Hosler, Matty Todd (Josh Cooper 63), Ewan Otoo: Lewis McCann, Chris Kane (Taylor Sutherland 63).
SUBS NOT USED: Sam Fisher, Sam Young, David Wotherspoon,, Craig Clay, Deniz Mehmet (GK)
YELLOW CARD: Otoo (58)

AYR UNITED: Harry Stone: George Stanger, Mikey Devlin, Scott McMann: Nick McAllister (Dylan Watret 78), Connor McLennan (Mark McKenzie 75), Ben Dempsey (c) (Lenny Agbaire 86), Cole McKinnon, Paddy Reading: Jay Henderson (Jamie Murphy 78), George Oakley (Jake Hastie 86),
SUBS NOT USED: Jamie Hislop, David Craig, Kenzie Mitchell, Robbie Mutch (GK).
SCORERS: Henderson (60), Oakley (71)
YELLOW CARDS: Dempsey (50), Agbaire (90)

REFEREE: Nick Walsh
ATTENDANCE: 4634
WEATHER: Fine 8°C

WINNING 50/50: Ticket number 18621 for £474

NEXT MATCH: Scottish Gas Scottish Cup (home) v Stenhousemuir, Saturday 18th January 2025, kick off 3.00pm

TO BE UPDATED
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