AYR UNITED 2 DOCHERTY (6, 12) ALLOA ATHLETIC 1 O’HARA (67)
Skipper Ross Docherty bagged a pair of headed goals as Ayr earned their first win in five attempts to reclaim third place.
But the Honest Men had Ross Doohan to thank for an injury time save from sub Liam Buchanan to deny the Wasps a point.
Boss Mark Kerr, who played the first 70 minutes before replacing himself with Andy Geggan, admitted the win was huge.
He claimed: “Young Alan Forrest was brilliant today. Teams have been man-marking him lately and Alloa tried the same, but when he’s on his game like that he’s fantastic.
“Luke McCowan also gave us extra spark and there were lots of good performances. Big Ross Doohan has been playing well even though we haven’t been keeping clean sheets, and he has come up with a huge save at the end.
“That’s the first time I’ve had a full squad today. The first six to eight weeks was going to be a challenge for me in that regard.
“But now we can hopefully go on and achieve wins together.”
Docherty took only six minutes to make his mark, nodding home a Forrest cross after McCowan’s corner was scrambled off the line by Kevin Cawley.
The captain struck again six minutes later when he got his head to a Stephen Kelly shot to divert the ball wide of Jamie MacDonald.
Craig Moore, McCowan and Kelly all went close as Ayr tried to harness the elements before the interval.
The home team kept up the pressure in the second-half.
Forrest stretched the Alloa defence with a good run before McCowan had a fierce shot diverted over the top.
Alloa threw themselves a lifeline against the run of play after 67 minutes when Kevin O’Hara lashed the ball home from 25 yards.
The visitors sensed the game wasn’t dead and, at the death, Buchanan went close, only to be foiled by Doohan’s good save.
Wasps boss Peter Grant said: “It was a great save at the end and it would only have been fair if we got a point.
“I have great belief in these lads. There is a long, long way to go and we know the season goes all the way to the end.”