Pars ‘had the better chances’

Neither side could come up with a winner in a game watched by a bumper crowd of 2,883.

Fans took advantage of an entry price of £5 that was set to help raise awareness of alzheimer’s disease after the recent passing of former Somerset Park chairman Donald Cameron, who was honoured with a minute’s silence before kick-off.

Sean Murdoch excelled after four minutes when he turned over a 30-yard volley from Brian Gilmour that looked set to dip into the net, with the shot-stopper then clutching Conrad Balatoni’s header from the resulting corner.

Nicky Clark fired Dunfermline’s first chance over, before Farid El Alagui entered as the second substitute that manager Allan Johnston had to call on before half-time.

Clark limped off to be replaced in the same manner that John Heron had 17 minutes earlier, with Rhys McCabe replacing the on-loan Blackpool player.

The changes helped Dunfermline feature more prominently, with Michael Paton curling a shot inches over and Gavin Reilly denied by Greg Fleming, who had rushed from his goal-line to block.

Early second-half acrobatics from El Alagui saw an overhead kick just pushed aside by Fleming, while Gilmour reminded everyone that Ayr were also still looking for a win when he struck a post shortly afterwards.

Joe Cardle fire the ball in the net on 63 minutes but a gentle push by the substitute on Balatoni saw the goal ruled out.

There was nothing gentle in El Alagui’s next involvement as he was flattened by Fleming as he went in for a cross, with the shotstopper and several other players immediately signalling for medical teams to come on board.

The Frenchman bounced back up and played on – despite not being sure about what had occurred. “To be honest, I do not really remember what happened. I don’t know who hit me but it felt like I was hit by a bus. I felt dizzy and groggy.

“I think I was unconscious for a couple of seconds and I felt a bit out of things.”

Manager Johnston said: “It was an open game and we had the better chances, but we had to defend as well.

“It was frustrating not to break the deadlock.”