Ayr United 2
St Johnstone 4
League (Championship)
Ayr UnitedAyr United |
2 - 42 - 4 |
St JohnstoneSt Johnstone |
 |
League (Championship) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
|
Mark McKenzie (8) Jamie Murphy (14) |
Matty Foulds (47) Josh McPake (77, 88) Kai Fotheringham (92) |
| Team Managers | |
|
Scott Brown |
Unknown. |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
38. Liam Russel 20. Leon King 33. Scott McMann 32. Dylan Watret 5. Kevin Holt 15. Jamie Murphy 22. Mark McKenzie 21. Ethan Walker 8. Ben Dempsey 23. Marcus Rus 2. Nick McAllister |
1 (G) T Steward Yellow card 3 (D) C Diabate 4 (D) M Boyes 33 (D) L Smith (45) Yellow card 35 (D) A Forrester (81) 7 (M) J Holt (65) Yellow card 9 (M) A Sidibeh 22 (M) S Mallan (45) Yellow card 24 (M) J McPake (89) 42 (M) R McAlear 10 (F) J Gullan |
| Bench | |
|
1. David Mitchell 12. Aaron Brown 4. Shaun Want 35. Jack Simpson 6. Stuart Bannigan 11. Dom Thomas 18. Jamie Hislop 29. Lucas McRoberts 7. Anton Dowds |
20 (G) R Sinclair 14 (D) M Foulds (45) 15 (D) J Baird (45) 6 (M) V Griffith (89) 8 (M) J Svedberg 11 (M) S Stanton (65) 23 (M) S Sprangler 17 (F) L Lloyd 21 (F) K Fotheringham (81) |
| Substitutions | |
|
Anton Dowds for Dylan Watret (66) Jamie Hislop for Marcus Rus (83) Lucas McRoberts for Jamie Murphy (90) |
None. |
| Cautions | |
|
Anton Dowds (67) |
None. |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
Colin Steven (Referee) |
Match Report
St Johnstone came from two goals down to win a six-goal Scottish Championship thriller at Ayr United and move three points clear at the top of the table.
Simo Valakari's side travelled to Somerset Park without a win in their past three outings and started slowly against a side with promotion ambitions of their own.
Mark McKenzie fired United in front on eight minutes with a fine strike from outside the box and Jamie Murphy double their advantage soon after Ethan Walker raced clear and set up a tap-in.
Scott Brown's side maintained that advantage until half-time, but half-time substitute Matty Foulds made it 2-1 inside two minutes of the restart, beginning a stirring fightback.
Josh McPake levelled the scores after Ayr goalkeeper Liam Russell failed to deal with an Adama Sidibeh cross from the right.
St Johnstone continued to pile forward in search of a winner and McPake delivered it, poking Sidibeh's cutback into the roof of the net, before Kai Fotheringham made sure of victory with a fourth in stoppage time.
Partick Thistle can move level on points again when they face Arbroath on Saturday, while Ayr could drop out of the play-off spots if Dunfermline beat Queen's Park or Greenock Morton beat Airdrieonians by three or more goals.
Match report written by BBC
Squad Statistics (as at December 12th, 2025)
| 2025-26 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Liam Russel (GK) | 20 |
|
5 | - | 17 | - |
| Kevin Holt | 32 |
|
19 | 3 | 19 | 3 |
| Dylan Watret | 19 |
|
18 | 1 | 53 | 4 |
| Scott McMann | 29 |
|
25 | 2 | 66 | 3 |
| Leon King | 21 |
|
14 | - | 14 | - |
| Nick McAllister | 24 |
|
20 | 2 | 130 | 5 |
| Marcus Rus | 22 |
|
23 | 1 | 62 | 6 |
| Ben Dempsey | 26 |
|
13 | 1 | 139 | 17 |
| Ethan Walker | 27 |
|
23 | 5 | 47 | 10 |
| Mark McKenzie | 25 |
|
26 | 6 | 219 | 23 |
| Jamie Murphy | 36 |
|
20 | 5 | 92 | 18 |
| Jamie Hislop (sub) | 17 |
|
4 | - | 9 | - |
| Anton Dowds (sub) | 29 |
|
14 | 1 | 56 | 24 |
| Lucas McRoberts (sub) | 18 |
|
6 | 1 | 10 | 2 |
League Table (as at December 12th, 2025)
| Pld | W | D | L | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | St Johnstone | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 38 |
| 2. | Partick Thistle | 17 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 35 |
| 3. | Arbroath | 17 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 26 |
| 4. | Ayr United | 18 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 24 |
| 5. | Dunfermline Athletic | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 22 |
| 6. | Morton | 17 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 21 |
| 7. | Raith Rovers | 17 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
| 8. | Airdrieonians | 17 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 14 |
| 9. | Queen's Park | 16 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 13 |
| 10. | Ross County | 16 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 12 |