Striker urges Lichties to follow Brechin lead

AYR UNITED 1 ARBROATH 2

Leighton Mcintosh believes Arbroath can follow Brechin into the Championship after his late goal fired Dick Campbell’s men to victory over title-chasing Ayr.

McIntosh struck two minutes from time with Tom O’Brien already back in the dressing room after being sent off.

Ryan Wallace cancelled out Alan Forrest’s fourth-minute goal which had put Ayr in the driving seat at half-time.

McIntosh, 24, has been on a hot scoring run after returning from Icelandic club Selfoss and has signed a deal until the end of the season.

The former Dundee striker claimed: “From coming up and now being in a play-off position is excellent.

“When you see our results and the ability we have in our team there is no reason why we can’t win promotion again. Brechin pushed on and got it so there is no reason why we can’t do it.

“I enjoyed Iceland and experiencing a different culture but when their season finished at the end of September, I got in touch with Arbroath as I had been training with them before.”

Boss Campbell revealed he tore a strip off his team at the interval but was delighted by the response.

He said: “I was very angry at half-time. No one accepted the responsibility of tackling at the Ayr goal and it annoyed me.

“The way we started the secondhalf was outstanding in terms of picking up second balls and crumbs.

“It’s not easy to come to Ayr, a full-time team, and win twice. We’ve started 2018 with two wins but won’t get carried away.”

Ayr raced ahead when Forrest shot home from close range after great work by Michael Moffat.

They missed a host of chances before a moment of controversy when Declan McDaid fired across the face of goal. Ayr claimed a defender handled on the line before the ball struck the post.

Arbroath grew in confidence and Wallace equalised from eight yards in the 68th minute.

The visitors then saw O’Brien shown a second yellow card for hauling back Lawrence Shankland who was in on goal.

But they didn’t let that faze them and when keeper Jordan Hart charged off his line and got into a fankle with Steven Bell, McIntosh kept his cool to fire into an empty net.