Mccall hails display of pace and power as Ayr blow Arbroath away

Swashbuckling Ayr United have returned to the top of League 1 ahead of meeting title rivals Raith Rovers in their next outing after a 4-1 success at Arbroath.

Lawrence Shankland, pictured, slipped the Honest Men into the lead before halftime and it was 4-0 before an hour was played as David Gold turned a cross into his own net, Shankland side-footed home and Craig Moore blasted in from the edge of the box.

Gavin Swankie poked in a consolation goal with Ayr boss Ian Mccall saying: “We blew them away in the second half with our pace and power.”

Raith Rovers squeezed past neighbours East Fife 1-0 at Stark’s Park thanks to a goal from Lewis Vaughan just before the half-hour mark. Alloa secured their third consecutive win with a 1-0 success over visitors Airdrie and have climbed into the top four for the first time this season as a result. Craig Malcolm scored the winner from close range four minutes from the break with Andy Graham missing the chance to make the winning margin greater when he had a late penalty saved.

Forfar recovered from going behind early to an Alan Trouten penalty to climb off bottom spot with a 4-3 win at Albion Rovers. Alan Reid deflected a David Cox effort past his own goalkeeper Graham Bowman to provide the Loons with a quick-fire leveller with Connor Shields putting the Coatbridge side in front again on 56 minutes. The Loons hit back with Cox hitting a double and Josh Peters also scoring before Sean Higgins pulled a goal back in injury time for Rovers who slip to seventh.

Queen’s Park now prop the table up after a 3-0 defeat at Stranraer where first-half headers from Grant Anderson and Stevie Bell had the Blues in control before Ryan Wallace’s late third.