Arbroath’s spirited second-half fightback wasn’t quite good enough to salvage anything from a game which left Lichties player-manager Paul Sheerin extremely frustrated, but far from despondent.
The home side gave themselves a mountain to climb by conceding three goals inside the opening half hour before hitting back twice in the second period.
Sheerin said: “Going forward we were a real threat and we created chances. But you just cannot excuse the way we defended in the first half. We were woeful, and that’s not just the back five I am talking about, it’s the whole team.
“The application is there, however, and I think the players are on board, although we are making it tough for ourselves.”
Arbroath got off to a terrible start when Michael Moffat fired Ayr ahead after three minutes.
The Lichties then had what appeared to be a strong case for a penalty turned down when on-loan striker Leighton McIntosh tumbled inside the box.
The sense of injustice felt over that decision was exacerbated when Michael Donald doubled the visitors lead shortly afterwards.
A horrendous error from keeper Scott Morrison gifted the Honest Men a third just before the half-hour mark. He was under no pressure when he completely miskicked an attempted clearance, leaving Moffat with an easy job of netting.
Bobby Linn looked to have pulled one back when David Hutton could only punch the Arbroath man’s swirling cross into the net, but ref Matt Northcroft decided there had been a foul on the keeper.
Linn repeated his effort two minutes later and this time Hutton was beaten and the Lichties were back in the game.
A dramatic finish seemed to be on the cards when debut man McIntosh headed home 11 minutes from the end, but Ayr held on to secure victory.