ayr united 3 Shankland (48), Geggan (63), Fasan (og, 65) falkirk 2 Rudden (18), Petravicius (25)

Ayr roared back from two goals down at the break to send Falkirk to a fifth straight league defeat and leave boss Ray McKinnon still searching for his first win. But Somerset Park boss Ian McCall claimed he never doubted his men despite a woeful first-half when they gifted the Bairns two goals. McCall claimed: “We do things the hard way but I never for a second doubted the character of the team. “We gave Falkirk a lift with the two goals, but came back well. It’s a great three points.” Zak Rudden, signed on loan from Rangers, gave the Bairns the lead after 18 minutes when he finished off a low cross from Deimantas Petracvicius. The provider turned scorer seven minutes later when he turned at the edge of the box to fire past Ross Doohan. Ayr looked toothless in attack but they contrived two chances in a minute before the interval when first Alan Forrest and then Lawrence Shankland had efforts saved, the second a particularly fine stop by Leo Fasan. Shankland sparked the fightback after 48 minutes when he drilled past Fasan. Four minutes later, Shankland rose to meet a cross from Mark Kerr but flashed his header just wide. Ayr then stunned the visitors with two goals in two minutes. Andy Geggan volleyed into the roof of the net after Jamie Adams headed on, to tie the scores. Ayr completed an amazing comeback when Fasan could only deflect a Shankland shot into his own net. Bairns boss McKinnon claimed: “The first-half was really positive. We did everything well but at half-time the players simply didn’t follow instructions. “We were off the pace for 15 minutes and lost three goals. The first two were our own doing. “It was a great first-half but we need to do that for 90 minutes.”