Hibernian 1
Ayr United 2
League (Championship)

Match Report

Ayr United came from behind to beat 10-man Hibernian at Easter Road in the Scottish Championship.

Jason Cummings gave Neil Lennon's men the lead just after half-time with a stunning strike, his sixth goal in six league games.

But after Marvin Bartley was sent off, Ayr equalised through Conrad Balatoni's header.

And then Brian Gilmour touched in a Kevin Nisbet cross to give the Honest Men all three points.

When the Hibernian fans arrived at Easter Road to watch their team take on Ayr all the talk was of breaking a 70 year old record to the start of a league campaign and six wins out of six.

And when talisman striker Cummings opened the scoring with a stunning curling effort early in the second half it looked as if Lennon's side would then push on for victory.

But when Bartley was shown a straight red card by referee Nick Walsh for a challenge on Jamie Adams the momentum of the game changed completely.

Ian McCall's players began to believe in themselves and when Balatoni equalised from a corner with sixteen minutes left the visiting fans within the crowd of 15,056 were heard in full voice.

Hibernian kept pressing forward looking to regain the lead but that meant there were gaps appearing at the back, and with ten minutes left Ayr scored what proved to be the winning goal.

A wonderful run by substitute Nisbet and his cross into the box was met by Gilmour who side footed the ball beyond Marciano into the net and give the travelling fans an enjoyable trip back down to Ayrshire.

Hibernian manager Neil Lennon: "The red card has changed the game. It's not a red card.

"I think there was a lot going on out there today that didn't go our way. I can't be over critical of the players, indeed I feel for them a bit with the refereeing performance today, but we have to accept it and get on.

"We should have one or two (goals) in the first half but that has been a criticism in the league last year. There have been instances in games this year when we haven't been good enough in front of goal but we had plenty of chances to go two up and should have seen the game out. Having said that at 1-0 up you are still in control but then the (red card) decision has come out of the blue. Marvin has gone in with one foot and he is low. He might have caught the kid but there was a lot of other stuff going on out there that I didn't think that warranted a red card the way the referee was letting the game go.

"We are not going to go through the season without a defeat here and there. It's maybe an unexpected one but we didn't deserve to lose the game and that's football sometimes."

Ayr United manager Ian McCall: "Greg Fleming has made a fantastic save in the first two or three minutes but after that we coped reasonably well without really playing well ourselves. We didn't allow them to cut us open as much and that was the game plan. But then Jason Cummings scored a wonder goal.

"The sending off was pivotal but how many times have we seen a sending off galvanise the 10 men? So for us to then go and score two goals is a great achievement for our club and our boys.

"We put on a lot of attacking players with that aim to try and win. We had one or two younger players, McGuffie has got a real chance, so its a great day for us to win against the overwhelming favourites for the league is a terrific result."

Match report written by BBC