Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ayr United get second wind to strike back twice as Caley Thistle blow golden chance

Ayr's Markus Fjortoft (far right) celebrates his equaliser.
Ayr's Markus Fjortoft (far right) celebrates his equaliser.

Lightning struck twice for Caley Thistle as they were pegged back by battling Ayr United – but they need just three more points to secure a Championship play-off spot.

Last November, Ayr fought back from 2-1 down at the break to secure a 2-2 draw.

On Saturday, they repeated the feat when they matched that scoreline, but achieved it from being 2-0 down after 14 minutes.

However, with fifth-placed Raith Rovers losing 1-0 at home to Morton, third-placed Inverness need one win from their final four games to seal a play-off position. 

ICT’s Reece McAlear (right) and Ayr’s Alex Kenyon.

It looks like they will be going in against Partick Thistle in a third against fourth double-header.

Second-placed Arbroath’s 1-0 victory at Hamilton makes it a tall order for ICT to catch them, with the gap being nine points, albeit the Caley Jags have one game in hand.

After wins against Arbroath, Raith and Dunfermline, the visitors to the sun-bathed seaside town of Ayr were well on course for four-in-a-row.

Doran key in Caley Thistle goals

Aaron Doran has been such a top creator during the side’s recent recovery after three winless months.

And the Dubliner, who had to go off at half-time with a thigh strain, played a big part when involved here.

He sprayed a pass out wide to striker Billy Mckay who patiently waited before picking out Shane Sutherland for his 10th goal of the season after just eight minutes.

Ayr had not won at home in their last six outings and the nerves were fraught amongst their supporters.

That feeling heightened when ICT doubled the scoreline after 14 minutes with a cracking strike.

Logan Chalmers scores goal of the game for Inverness to make it 2-0 after 14 minutes.

Again, Doran made it happen with a wonderful high pass on to Logan Chalmers and the on-loan Dundee United forward superbly swerved the ball beyond goalkeeper Aidan McAdams into the net.

The vocal band of travelling fans were elated and you got the feeling there would be more goals to follow.

However, Ayr dug deep and only a fine combined block from Wallace Duffy and Robbie Deas prevented Sam Ashford from testing keeper Cammy Mackay.

Second half response after fans’ blast

The home supporters let their team know they wanted a response as the players trudged up the tunnel at the break.

And the Honest Men stormed back, lifting the mood as United aimed to remain at least eighth with a trip to ninth-placed Dunfermline waiting them this weekend. The gap is now at three points after their two-goal comeback.

The first one arrived on 54 minutes when 17-year-old Fraser Bryden scored his first Ayr goal by turning on the spot and shooting through a blue wall of bodies after substitute Daire O’Connor whipped the ball across goal.

The noisy old ground was making itself heard, with the home fans urging their side on, sensing a shift in momentum as they piled on the pressure.

Ayr’s Fraser Brydon (right) scores to give his side hope early in the second half.

It was no shock when they equalised on 73 minutes when substitute Markus Fjortoft steered home a cross from impressive on-loan Celtic midfielder Kerr McInroy.

With plenty at stake for both teams, there were calls for spot-kicks at both ends of the park, which referee Willie Collum waved away.

A point apiece was a fair outcome and ICT now turn their full focus on hosting leaders Kilmarnock on Friday night.

Team ‘froze’ as Ayr fought back

Inverness head coach Billy Dodds admitted his in-form side didn’t deal with the response from their fired-up hosts after the break.

He said: “Fair play to Ayr United in the second half, but we didn’t do our bit and I’m really disappointed with the second half. Even in our bad run, I wasn’t saying that about the boys.

ICT head coach Billy Dodds was left frustrated as his side saw a 2-0 lead at Ayr United vanish as it ended 2-2.

“Although Ayr were in the game, I felt we helped them along. I trusted the boys on Saturday to see out the game.

“We didn’t do the right things at times and ended up slashing a few shots and having poor headers here and there and you could feel throughout my team like they froze a little bit.

“In the second half, we created a couple of half chances, but never played anywhere near our capabilities in the second 45.”

HOW THEY LINED UP

AYR UNITED (4-4-2) – McAdams 6, Houston 6 (Fjortoft 71), Reading 6, McGinty 6 (Baird 88), Muirhead 6, Kenyon 6 (Smith 58), McKenzie 5 (Adeloye 46), McInroy 7, Maxwell 5 (O’Connor 46), Ashford 6, Bryden 6. Subs not used: Albinson (GK), Gondoh, Moffat, Ecrepont.

CALEY THISTLE (4-2-3-1) – Mackay 6, Duffy 6, Welsh 6, Deas 6, Carson 6 (Devine 82), Mckay 7 (Hardy 82), Doran 6 (Harper 46), Sutherland 6, Broadfoot 6, Chalmers 7 (MacGregor 70), McAlear 6 (Samuels 77). Subs not used: Ridgers (GK), Walsh, Hyde.

Referee – Willie Collum.

Attendance – 1756.

Man of the match – Billy Mckay.