McCall’s men on brink
HIBERNIAN all but smothered the Championship life out of Ayr United with an impressive 4-0 win at Somerset Park. Ian McCall’s side were hardly in the game as a contest and now have to beat Raith Rovers by a five-goal margin on Saturday to avoid finishing bottom.
Grant Holt and Martin Boyle came close early on for the champions and Paul Cairney almost gave Ayr the lead with a decent effort but, when Hibs moved in front, there was little doubt about the outcome.
Jason Cummings broke the deadlock when he put Hibs ahead with his 22nd goal of the season, heading the ball past Greg Fleming from John McGinn’s cross.
Boyle added a second two minutes later after good work from Grant Holt.
James Keatings scored the third midway through the second half and Cummings completed the scoring.
Dumbarton are all but safe after a 2-2 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice.
United took the lead midway through the first half when Tony Andreu headed home from a corner. But Dumbarton were level before the break when Robert Thomson scored with a header after United failed to properly defend a corner.
Dumbarton looked increasingly dangerous on the break with Lewis Vaughan forcing a save from Cammy Bell with a shot from a tight angle early in the second half.
It was Vaughan who put them in front after 64 minutes with a composed finish after a driving run by Sam Stanton.
Thomas Mikkelsen equalised with 10 minutes left after Alan Martin had made the initial save, and the striker should have won it in the final minute but sent his unguarded header over the crossbar.
Dunfermline comfortably beat Morton 3-1. Nicky Clark gave Dunfermline the perfect start with a goal after just three minutes after the ball had come back off the crossbar.
Lawrence Shankland headed in the equaliser with eight minutes of the first half remaining but Michael Moffat put Dunfermline back in front with a close-range shot from Kallum Higginbotham’s cross.
Rhys McCabe added the clincher with the aid of a deflection.
In League One, Airdrieonians climbed into third and to the brink of a play-off place with a 4-0 win at East Fife, Andy Ryan hitting a hat-trick.
Oli Shaw scored twice as Stenhousemuir moved off the bottom with a 2-0 win at Queen’s Park, leapfrogging Peterhead, who lost 4-1 at champions Livingston.
Arbroath overtook Forfar to go top of League Two when Ryan McCord hit a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Elgin City. Forfar had to come from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at bottom club Cowdenbeath, who had Shaun Rutherford sent off.