Highland’s hopes of making a winning start to their National League 1 campaign were dashed by a red card early in the second half and a last gasp penalty kicked by Ayr.
A frustrated Dave Carson, the Highland head coach was dismayed by the 13-12 defeat but remained philosophical about the long term.
He said: “This was a game we should have won but we successfully managed to shoot ourselves in the foot.
“We made the perfect start with an early try, followed by one just after the half hour mark, this despite conceding a penalty in two minutes.
“But we were in charge for the rest of the half and we missed a number of try opportunities.
“When we were running the ball wide we looked impressive.”
Having shrugged off a second minute reverse when the visitors cashed in on home fringement, the home side took over, running the ball with purpose and pace, leading to a first class try in eight minutes from Owen McDonald and the promise of more to come.
The big crowd had nearly half an hour to wait for a second touchdown but it was worth it as the home back division combined to send over winger Mick Gordon to the delight of the home support.
With stand off Scott Fraser kicking one conversion, the 12-3 lead was no more than Highland deserved at half time, even if they had left some points out on the wide open spaces of Canal Park.
Anticipation of more tries was soon dispersed, 10 minutes into the second half when prop Stuart Watson, who up to that point had enjoyed an outstanding game, was shown a red card for a trip on an Ayr player.
From that incident, the game swung the way of Ayrshire side and it was no surprise when they pulled back seven points for a converted try to make it 12-10 and all to play for in a pulsating finish.
Despite being a man down, Highland looked the more likely to end up winners in the closing minutes.
With only two minutes to play the northerners surged into the Ayr 22 only to lose possession, enabling a relieved Ayr defence to hack the ball downfield where after a ruck they were awarded a penalty which was kicked to give them victory, leaving Highland with only a losing bonus point as consolation.
Carson added: “We have only ourselves to blame but we played well enough in what was a good opener to the season. We’ll just have to go to Kelso next Saturday and make amends.”
Elsewhere in the division, Gala beat Stirling Wolves 34-7, Boroughmuir were 31-28 winners at Watsonians, Biggar trounced Dundee High 47-3, Melrose eased past Heriots Blues 26-15 and Kelso warmed up for their Highland clash with 31-20 win at Cartha Queen’s Park.