Honest Men are no match for Pars
DUNFERMLINE ...................................... 3 AYR UNITED ........................................... 0
Jim Duffy insisted he will keep working to find the right formula in a bid to arrest Ayr United’s alarming slump.
The Honest Men were brushed aside by a resurgent Dunfermline at East End Park as John Hughes took his bow in the home dugout.
A 3-0 defeat extended Ayr’s run to just one win in nine games and leaves them only a point off the bottom of the Championship table.
And Duffy said: “We’re trying every week to tweak things and find the right blend.
“But football is ultimately about confidence and the right mentality – you saw it today with John’s team off the back of their win at Inverness last week.
“We have to keep working to find that formula and that is the challenge I have.
“At times we are far too easy to play against and I need to find the mix which allows our players to express themselves but also be more difficult to play against.
“We allowed Dunfermline to score twice from set pieces and they went on to dominate the game from there, which was very disappointing.
“It gives them the opportunity with good players like [Graham] Dorrans and [Dom] Thomas to go and express themselves and we were left chasing the game.”
Ayr were on the back foot from the off and Aidan McAdams pulled off a fine stop after just a minute to deny Josh Edwards.
The home side continued to have the better of the early exchanges and it was no surprise when they hit the front from a hotly-disputed corner.
Thomas provided the delivery for Lewis McCann to head home at the near post.
Ayr had shouts for a penalty turned down when Jonathan Afolabi appeared to tumble under the challenge of Mark Connolly, but referee Alan Newlands waved away the protests.
Jack Baird then headed wide from a Joe Chalmers corner as they briefly threatened to get back into the contest but soon Dunfermline were back in control.
Andy Murdoch cleared off the line as Ayr clung on but they couldn’t last until the interval as the Pars went 2-0 up from another corner, this time Ryan Dow heading home unmarked.
That left the second half as little more than an exhibition for the hosts, who were in cruise control as they saw it out for three points.
McCann fired inches wide from an Aaron Comrie cross soon after the break, but the duo combined shortly after to make it 3-0 as McCann volleyed home unmarked.