A double from Curtis Main was added to by further strikes from Jude Bonnar and George Oakley, as Arbroath lost 4-0 at Ayr United on Saturday afternoon.
David Gold and Colin Hamilton made one change to the side that defeated St Mirren on penalties last week, with Arran Pettifer making his first start, in place of Ryan Flynn.
Craig Watson set the early tone for the match, crashing into a challenge on Marco Rus, earning the full-back a yellow card after less than 30 seconds.
After an even start, with neither side creating any chances of note, it was the visitors who threatened first on 18 minutes, Shaun Want seeing his shot from Kevin Holt’s header deflected behind. The Honest Men weren’t to be denied though and would take the lead soon after, Main doing well to get on the ball at the near post, to knock it past Aidan McAdams.
Arbroath went searching for a quick leveller with Ryan Dow seeing an effort blocked before Harry Cochrane fired over, but they went even closer to conceding again with Jamie Murphy’s header going inches over.
On the stroke of half-time, the Lichties were inches away from an equaliser, with Nikolay Todorov rising well, but heading just past the post.
The second half couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start, with Ayr moving two in front. Ethan Walker let fly from the edge of the area, with the ball coming back off the post, where Main was waiting to tap home.
Dom Thomas then flashed a ball across goal as the home side aimed to kill the game off quickly, but there was no one on hand to add the finishing touch.
It was three with just over quarter of an hour to go however, with a short corner worked to Bonnar, who skipped inside before curling a fantastic effort into the top corner.
Ayr then found a fourth to really add gloss to the scoreline, with fellow sub Oakley racing onto the ball after a quick counterattack and showing great composure to slot the ball into the net.
The home side weren’t taking things easy though, going in search of a fifth with a deflected shot from Marco Rus almost bringing that goal, going narrowly over.
Annan Athletic are up next for Arbroath, making the trip to Gayfield on Tuesday night, before a trip to Forfar next Saturday to round off Group D.
Ayr United: Mitchell; McAllister (Watret, 77), Want, Holt, McMann (Dick, 77); McKenzie; Walker, Thomas (Bonnar, 66), Rus, Murphy (Hastie, 77); Main (Oakley, 67)
Arbroath: McAdams; Watson, Muirhead (Steele, 84), O’Brien (Kenny, 75), Wilkie; Pettifer, Cochrane; Stewart (Hickey-Fugaccia, 75), Marshall, Dow (Trialist, 65); Todorov (Reilly, 65)
Attendance: 1534 (89 Arbroath fans)
