Ayr alone at summit as Mccall’s men send title rivals tumbling to defeat

Ayr United took sole charge of the number one spot in League 1 by defeating visitors Raith Rovers 3-0 and moving three points clear of the Kirkcaldy side thanks to first-half goals by Lawrence Shankland and Robbie Crawford and a late header by Craig Moore.

The Ayrshire side hit the front after 16 minutes when Michael Moffat released Shankland and the striker ran clear before slipping a shot past Graeme Smith in the Rovers goal.

Michael Rose came close to adding a second two minutes later when he fired a corner goalward, but John Herron popped up on the line to clear.

Ayr doubled their lead on 22 minutes with Moffat again being involved as he picked out Crawford on the left wing and the midfielder cut in before curling a shot home from the edge of the box via the bar.

Moffat came close to getting a goal of his own ten minutes from the break when he left two visitors trailing, but his shot flew just over.

Lewis Vaughan tried to drag Rovers back into the game in the opening seconds of the second half, but his shot went into the side-netting.

Ayr took heed of that warning and almost went three ahead on 50 minutes when Rose cracked in a free-kick from 20 yards that Smith could only partially save. However, Moffat’s effort from the loose ball was deflected past for a corner.

Ian Mccall’s men continued to try to put the game out of reach and they had the perfect opportunity to do so on 65 minutes when Kevin Mchattie fouled Jamie Adams but Mof- fat kept things interesting by blazing the resultant penalty over the bar.

In the third minute of injury time Ayr added their third goal when Andy Geggan ventured down the right and picked out substitute Moore who headed the ball home.