Ayr took the lead in the 3rd minutes when a Woodburn pass that found lively striker Reynolds, who was almost visibly surprised at the room he found before giving Ayr the early lead. Dundee took some time to recover and Ayr looked the livelier side for the opening 20 minutes, but Forsyth headed past Ayr keeper Craig Samson to level the scoring. Eight minutes later, Harkins ghosted across the penalty area to connect with a Forsyth corner from the right, but his glancing header whipped just wide of Samson's far post. Six minutes after that, Colin McMenamin raced through the visitors' defence to go one-on-one with Samson, but his low shot to the keeper's right saw the former Dundee man make a very agile leap to beat the ball away for a corner. In the second half, Ayr scorned a great chance to restore their lead when Ryan Borris drove the ball straight at Douglas, but the former Scotland goalkeeper stood up well to make an instinctive stop and keep Dundee level. Griffiths then had a couple of good chances, the first from 14 yards well saved by the impressive Samson, the second being a half volley that the young striker miscued and sent wide. Then Harkins headed straight at Samson from a corner on the right, but the Ayr keeper made good contact to smother the ball safely. Dundee were growing into the game - Ritchie Hart gave a powerful midfield performance until he was replaced by Colin Cameron - and some tidy football was in evidence from Griffiths, Harkins and Forsyth as they probed the visitors' defence for gaps. They found the first of those gaps in the 66th minute, when Griffiths raced into the box on the left side to shoot high past Samson from 14 yards - the striker's 13th goal of the season. They found the second gap in the last minute of normal time, when Harkins made his way into the 18-yard box on the left, shaped to square the ball across the six yard line, but instead shifted his weight to shoot between Samson and his near post to score his 12th goal of the season. There was no way back for Ayr after that and Dundee ran out comfortable winners.
Dundee: Douglas, Paton, Malone, Kerr, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Forsyth, Hart (Cameron 78), Griffiths (Clarke 90), McMenamin, Harkins. Subs Not Used: Soutar, Benedictus, Young.
Att: 4,323
Ref: S Finnie
Another great win for the club, and they played some great football.
