HAMILTON ACCIES 0
AYR UNITED 2
Dempsey (12, pen), Ashford (27)
Ayr United bounced back from their Scottish Cup disappointment with a resounding win at New Douglas Park to leave Accies rooted to the bottom of the table.
First-half goals from Ben Dempsey and Sam Ashford gave the visitors a comfortable edge and, although they failed to add to their tally, Lee Bullen’s side were worthy winners against their outof-sorts opponents.
He said: “We’ve taken a sore one earlier in the week and a lot of people will have been hurting after that.
“The result was the result, but the way it transpired made it probably the lowest point of some people’s careers. But we can’t look back, we’ve got to look forward and the resilience and composure we showed against Hamilton was everything I wanted, the reaction I wanted for the supporters, for the players.
“It was a really pleasing performance.
“We had two or three more opportunities to score and finish itoff.”
Dempsey gave the Honest Men the lead in from the penalty spot in 12 minutes after Daniel O’Reilly was adjudged to have handled inside the area.
Accies offered little in response and Ashford doubled the visitors’ lead when he struck a low driven effort into the bottom into the right-hand corner 15 minutes later.
John Rankin looked to his bench for inspiration after a dreadful first-half performance, handing a debut to recent signing Benny Ashley-Seal.
However, it was more of the same in the second-half as the visitors continued to dominate.
Ayr should have added to their advantage through Championship top scorer Dipo Akinyemi, who missed several gilt-edged chances to add to his impressive goalscoring tally.
On 53 minutes, he latched on to Paddy Reading’s cross and was denied at close-range from Ryan Fulton, before racing through on goal shortly after but was once again thwarted by the Hamilton number one.
It was an afternoon to forget for the hosts who continue to prop up the table and boss Rankin admitted: “I’m disappointed and frustrated.
“I thought today was a good opportunity for us to pick up three points at home.
“We’ve played well against Ayr previously but didn’t get anywhere near that today.”