Ayr United 2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3
League (Championship)

Match Report

Inverness Caledonian Thistle scored three times in the first 18 minutes to thwart Ayr United's hopes of returning to the Scottish Championship's summit.

A win would have returned Ayr to the top, but Nathan Austin scored twice in three minutes to put the visitors clear and Liam Polworth added a third.

Declan McDaid and Lawrence Shankland pulled goals back after the break, but the hosts could not find a leveller.

As a result, Ian McCall's side stay three points adrift of Ross County.

Inverness move up into the play off places, and are just six point behind Ayr.

Ayr United manager Ian McCall: "You can't give teams a three-goal start. I thought they had 20 minutes, then we dominated, but we couldn't get an equaliser.

"There will be many twists and turns to go and if we take six points from every nine from here on in, we'll not be far away."

Inverness CT manager John Robertson: "You know if you lose a goal here, the atmosphere can change and it's a brilliant throw back coming here.

"If we win on Saturday, we're back in the hunt going into the break for the cup. We're just targeting whatever team is directly above us."

Match report written by BBC