St Mirren 1
Ayr United 1
League (Championship)

Match Report

John Sutton's equaliser for St Mirren ensured that they and visitors Ayr United occupy the bottom two spots in the Scottish Championship.

The Buddies' Lawrence Shankland missed a second-half penalty before Paul Cairney gave Ayr the lead.

But the Honest Men were reduced to 10 men with a red card for Jamie Adams.

And, within three minutes, St Mirren were level through a Sutton header and Ryan Hardie came close to a winner with a shot off the Ayr crossbar.

It was a game after which the home side will be disappointed not to have maintained their recent winning run.

With the visitors content to hit on the break, it was St Mirren who had the majority of the first-half chances, including a Gary MacKenzie header cleared off the line.

Despite the home dominance, Ayr were creating chances, but the big talking points came after the break.

St Mirren spurned the opportunity to go in front from the spot after 59 minutes when Jason Naismith was brought down and Shankland screwed the penalty low past the post.

The miss was compounded five minutes later when Ayr took the lead with a clinical finish from Cairney for his third goal of the season.

Adams received a straight red card from referee Greg Aitken after 77 minutes for a foul on Kyle McAllister and substitute Sutton soon contributed his eighth goal of the season from David Clarkson's cross.

Hardie smashed a 20-yard effort off the crossbar as the home side pressed for the win.

However, the Buddies had to make do with a second 1-1 league draw with Ayr this season, while the visitors drop to second bottom following Dumbarton's win over Falkirk.

St. Mirren manager Jack Ross: "We had a lot of opportunities to win the game, but if we can keep picking up seven points out of nine from each three-game segment over the next few weeks, we will certainly climb the table.

"Our reaction to going a goal down was good, but the players are frustrated not to continue the winning run."

Ayr United manager Ian McCall: "Under the new rules, the red card for Jamie Adams was probably correct - one of the few decision the officials got right.

"The decisions cost us two points and the players a win bonus."

Match report written by BBC