Ayr started brightly and it looked like they were the most likely team to take the lead, as Roddy Paterson and Dale Moore were a constant thorn in the sides of the Dunfermline defence.
Ayr's first opportunity came ten minutes in as recently promoted under 17 player, Robbie Crawford strode down the right side before placing his cross right on the head of Roddy Paterson who headed on target but the Pars keeper saved.
Two minutes later, it was Dale Moore's chance to score but narrowly fired over the bar after a superb run down the right from Ian Fisher, who had placed his pass directly into Dales run into the box.
Ayr rode their luck a few moments later as Dunfermline struck the post from a corner, much to the complaints of the Ayr side who were down to 10 men at the time, as a sidelined Ayr player was not allowed to return until after the corner was taken but fortunately for the Ayr side, the corner came to nothing.
At the other end, Roddy Paterson was playing well as a lone striker and held the ball up well for attacking midfielders, while Dale Moore was running the flank with ease, seemingly skinning the defenders at every opportunity.
However, Dunfermline took the lead on 23 minutes when a fortunate rebound from a well struck shot that hit the woodwork, landed right on the head of one of the Dunfermline attackers and placed it into the open net.
Ayr's heads didn't drop and almost hit back immediately when Moore earned a free kick on the edge of the box. The free kick broke off the defensive wall, again to Moore, who took a couple of touches, going past a couple of defenders in the meantime before shooting just wide.
Eight minutes before half time, Dunfermline scored a second when a snapshot volley from 25 yards bulleted into the top right hand corner of the net giving Ayr's keeper, McWilliams, no chance of saving. Smashing goal which was hard not to applaud.
Minutes later Ayr lost a third as a free kick was passed straight through the middle of the defensive line with the ball slotted into the bottom left of the goal.
It was a hard loss for the Ayr side just before half time and Stuart Milligan tried to hit back with an effort from 10 yards that unfortunately deflected wide when it was goalbound.
Right on the stroke of half time, Ayr were again unlucky with woodwork deflections when once again a Dunfermline shot struck the post and not for the first time in this match, the ball landed right in the path of an attacking player to volley straight into the goal.
It was a tough way to end the first half for the Ayr players as luck on the day was definitely favouring the Fife side and the Ayr side could well feel aggrieved about the result. It says a lot about the players and coaching staff that although the result wasn't going as planned, their heads didn't drop and the second was to prove more fruitful for Ayr's side.
Ten minutes into the second half and impressive Dale McLelland crossed from the left for Roddy Paterson to narrowly miss the goal with a strong header. Paterson had another opportunity minutes later, this time getting his header on target but the goalie managed to save.
It was more encouraging from the Ayr players as they pushed to get themselves back into the match in terms of goals and as time ticked past, Ayr would get more chances to get some goals.
Right back Ian Fisher was next to get a shot on target after some nice play from Milligan through the middle of the park to set up Fisher who shot from 25 yards out but the ball floated past the post but the signs were strong that Ayr would get a goal sooner or later.
Ayr were getting chance after chance at this point but still had to be defensively aware and a nice saving tackle by substitute midfielder Tito, stopped a sure goal followed immediately by another goal saving challenge by (16).
With less than ten minutes remaining, Moore made a great run down the left passing to Paterson who tried a superb reverse shot from just inside the box and was unlucky to to open Ayr's account on the night.
Time was running out for Davie White and Stephen McMillan's side but it didn't deter the players from getting the all important goals. Tito then made a tremendous through ball to Paterson on the left who crossed for Milligan to head past the post and from the resulting goal kick Thomson played a long ball back into the danger area for Paterson to play Tito in this time, whose quick snapshot spun past the post.
However, with only two minutes remaining, Ayr opened their scoring account when a Beckhamesque style diagonal 40 yard pass from Tito, found Moore who laid the ball up for Milligan and from 20 yards, he struck a thunderbolt almost bursting the net.
The game finished this way but Ayr's second half performance was outstanding and fully merited a better result on the night and although the management team were disappointed with the result, they were happy with the performance on the night. Stephen McMillan said "I thought they started great and for the first 20 mins they excelled but had an unfortunate end to the half. The second half I thought they were brilliant and they can be proud of their performance."
McMillan was keen to praise all the players on show but was exceptionally happy with individual performances from Moore, Fisher, Frame, Crawford and Milligan.
Squad tonight :1 Ryan McWilliams 2 Ian fisher 3 Keiran Macintyre 4 Robbie Crawford 5 John Frame 6 JJ Hawkshaw 7 Dale Moore 8 Stuart Milligan 9 Roddy Paterson 10 Darren Baird 11 Dale Mclelland Subs Gareth Armstrong George Thompson Tito Darryl Jones Shaun Kelly
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