AYR UNITED 5

Willoughby (23, pen), Musonda (32),

Dowds (41, pen), Dempsey (68),

Chalmers (90)

ARBROATH 0

Ayr eased their relegation play-off fears with a fivegoal trouncing of relegated Arbroath at blustery Somerset.

Manager Scott Brown, whose side are now six points clear of second-bottom Queen’s Park, said: “We got into half-time – 3-0 up and it’s easy to switch off.

“It’s a mentality thing – if we lose that game today, we are in a proper relegation battle for ninth place.

“But it’s brilliant to win 5-0 and keep a clean sheet. Now it’s about consistency until the end of the season. What pleased me the most was the unselfishness from the lads.”

After a quiet start to proceedings, Jamie Murphy’s floated free-kick found Jack Sanders whose effort was well saved by Max Boruc.

Arbroath nearly took the lead against the run of play when Leighton Mcintosh was inches away from connecting with a ball over the face of goal.

But United went straight upfield and Anton Dowds was clipped in the box. Kurt Willoughby slotted the spotkick into the bottom corner.

They made it two when Willoughby’s shot was brilliantly saved by Boruc but fell straight to Frankie Musonda, who headed home.

Arbroath’s day went from bad to worse as Adam Mackinnon pulled Harry Mchugh down, resulting in another Ayr penalty and this time Dowds squeezed his kick past Boruc. Things got no better for the Lichties on the restart as United added a fourth midway through the second half when Ben Dempsey curled the ball into the bottom corner after being put through by Murphy.

Dowds came close to grabbing another before Logan Chalmers tapped a Dowds cross home from close range.

Arbroath boss Jim Mcintyre said: “I was quite pleased with how we started the game and then the penalty!

“How he gives that as a penalty... I’ve watched it back and it’s outside the box. The player cuts across our player then clips him. It’s just such a poor decision.

“Earlier on, we’ve come back in games, and there’s been the odd goal that we’ve been beaten by but there’s been three or four hammerings where heads have gone down.”