alloa athletic 0

ayr united 2

Lawrence Shankland’s two goals separated the sides and gave Ayr United the points against Alloa. Ayr manager Ian McCall was delighted by his team’s performance and said: “I recognise Alloa are a good side, but I was disappointed that we did not score more goals. “Although delighted with the win, we need to push on, get more points and look to the future.” Ayr started the stronger side and in the opening minutes tested Neil Parry in the home goal with shots from Murdoch and Shankland. Alloa responded and Iain Flannigan came close when he fired in a shot that scraped the bottom of the post to go wide. Darrio Zanatta also had a golden opportunity to open for the home side, but his closerange header went wide. Against the run of play, it was the visitors who snatched the opener when Lawrence Shankland ran on to a ball at the edge of the penalty box and fired home an unstoppable shot past Parry in the Wasps goal. That gave Ayr confidence and they began to dominate play, with the ever dangerous Lawrence Shankland at the centre of almost every attack. A a shot from the edge of the box just wide and then a decisive tackle by Andy Graham inside the penalty box denied Shankland his second. However, that second soon came when Shankland was on to hand to collect the ball at the edge of the box, turn and fire home past Parry. Alloa tried hard to freshen up their side with substitutions but were unable to break through the strong Ayr defence. Alloa manager Jim Goodwin was disappointed, saying: “Lawrence Shankland was the difference between the two sides today, he did what he is good at and scored both goals. “We defended well for most of the game but we need to be more clinical in our finishing and we need to fight on and prepare for our next game.”