Once again second half goals were our undoing as we crashed out of the Alba Challenge Cup at SomersetPark in what was our first defeat in Ayr since 1993.

There was one change to the starting line up which had lost to RossCounty with Kenny Adamson returning to the side with Brian Fairbairn dropping to the bench.

We started the game brightly against the newly relegated side but missed chances in front of goal proved to be costly.

The first chance of the night came early on when the lively McKenzie sent over a cross which home defender Keenan managed to clear.

Midway through the opening period Dempster sent in a header from ten yards but keeper McWilliams managed to turn his effort round the post at the expense of a corner.

Eleven minutes from the break we had our best chance of the night when Keenan sent a pass back to McWilliams which the custodian handled.

Referee Madden awarded an indirect free kick in the box which Cameron quickly played to Dempster but the big striker fired past the post from eight yards.

Almost on the half time whistle the home side had their first attempt on the Cowden goal when McKeown broke through but his shot from the edge of the box was superbly tipped over the bar by Hay.

Ayr broke the deadlock after 63 minutes when Martyn Campbell rose to send a powerful header past Hay from 12 yards following a cross from Keenan.

Ten minutes later they doubled their advantage with Mark Roberts firing home a cross from sub Conway from 12 yards.

Cowden battled away to try and salvage the game with a Linton cross being fumbled by the keeper but luckily for him there was no one to take advantage while Dempster saw a close range header cleared off the line by a defender.