Ayr 39-20 Dundee HSFP: Fightback keeps Ayr in hunt

'OH YE of little faith.' That could be levelled at their support by an Ayr side who had been at the wrong end of a high octane performance by Dundee in a first-half which saw them go in at the break 10-7 down and looking in trouble.

After conceding a daft try in eight minutes when a guddle at the back of a scrum close to their line had let Andy Dunlop pounce to put Ayr ahead, Dundee took control. In the second quarter they scored two cracking tries through hooker James Clark and Ross Lemon.

With Millbrae strangely quiet, Ayr suddenly threw off their lethargy, started to win ball and play in the Dundee danger zone. Frazier Climo levelled the scores with a penalty but had Cammy Taylor not pulled off a try saving tackle on Harry Duthie, Dundee would have again have taken the lead.

Climo pulled off a trademark try when he ghosted through the Dundee defence a couple of minutes later then Barry Jones landed a penalty to keep the margin to two points. Damien Kelly then finished off a move by Dunlop and Gordon Reid, Andy Wilson secured the bonus point try and although Lemon pulled one back, Jono Crossan's score and Grant Anderson's superb angle for try number six kept alive Ayr's double dreams.

Scorers: Ayr: Tries: Dunlop, Climo, Kelly, Wilson, Crossan, Anderson. Cons: Curle (2), Climo. Pens: Climo. Dundee: Tries: Clark, Lemon. Con: Jones. Pen: Ferguson.

Ayr: G Anderson; J McClung, R Curle, M Stewart, C Taylor; F Climo, J Hunter; G Reid, P MacArthur, G Sykes, D Kelly, S Sutherland, J Crossan, A Dunlop, G Tippett. Subs: P Burke, S Nimmo, S Adair, AJ MacFarlane, A Wilson.

Dundee: J Fleming; R Lemon, H Duthie, L Graham, M Smith; C Ferguson, A Dymock; D Russell, J Clark, N Dymock, C Cumming, R Hawkins, R Cessford, G Ryan, D Levison. Subs: S Cessford, C Kerr, R Milne, B Jones, A Hay.

Referee: D Jack