Dundee 2
Ayr United 1
Scottish Cup (Fifth Round)

Match Report

Dundee made it through to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup by coming from behind to beat Ayr United.

Ayr had the better of the early exchanges and went ahead through Tam McManus's eighth-minute strike.

Dundee got back on level terms when Ben Hutchinson stroked a loose ball into the net five minutes before the break.

The home side's second-half dominance paid off when Ayr's Craig Samson punched a free-kick off Leigh Griffiths into the net with 20 minutes remaining.

Despite, Dundee sitting over 30 points ahead of their First Division rivals, it was the visitors who started brighter.

Mark Roberts and Ryan Borris looked sharp for Ayr, and it was a combination of the two that set up McManus for the opener.

Roberts slipped a pass through to Borris, and with the Dundee defence posted missing he made to the bye-line, squared for McManus, who scored a debut goal from 8 yards.

The goal spurred on the Honest Men, and Douglas pulled off a fantastic acrobatic save to push wide Roberts' volley.

Dundee's Griffiths had shown glimpses of his ability with a couple of runs down the wing, and on 20 minutes he presented Harkins with a wonderful chance to equalise.

Griffiths squared the ball to Harkins at the edge of the box, but with only the goalkeeper to beat he contrived to shoot wide of the upright.

But the Dark Blues eventually made the breakthrough on 40 minutes.

Ayr goalkeeper Samson could only parry Griffiths's shot into the path of another debutant, Ben Hutchinson, who side-footed the ball in with most of the net gaping.

Griffiths was at the heart of all of Dundee's attacking moves, and he was unlucky not to claim a goal on the stroke of half-time, when his header clipped the bar.

But the former Livingston man's fortunes changed when the ball bounced off his face into the net after Samson had tried to punch clear a dangerous Harkins delivery.

Match report written by BBC