Title Raith now up in the Ayr
Horror blunder hands victory to Arbroath
Bell dropped back to central defence with teenager Stuart Faulds came on but Ayr badly lost their way.
Arbroath grew in confidence and Wallace fired home from eight yards to equalise in the 68th minutes.
The visitors then had O’Brien was shown a second yellow for hauling back Shankland who was steaming in goal.
But they didn’t let that faze them and when Hart unaccountably charged off his line and got into a fankle with Bell, McIntosh kept his cool to fire into an empty net.
Smokies boss Dick Campbell revealed a half- time tongue lashing transformed his team.
He claimed: “We showed Ayr far too much respect in the first- half. A game of football is all about application but I was very angry at half- time.
“No one accepted responsibility at Ayr’s goal and that annoyed me. We were outstanding the way we started the second- half.
“We’ve started 2018 with two wins but won’t get carried away.
“It’s not easy to come to Ayr who are full- time and win twice. It was a great sending- off because their boy was clean through.”