Smith happy to leave Somerset Park with a point

Rovers had Jamie MacDonald to thank after the veteran keeper made several good saves throughout the match and, although some of their play showed they were looking for more, Smith was satisfied to be heading back to Kirkcaldy with a share of the points.

He said: “We're away from home to Ayr United who are a very good Championship club that have finished in the top four the last couple of seasons.

"We knew it was going to be a very difficult game and we felt we didn’t start well in the first ten minutes, Jamie MacDonald’s had a great save on five minutes, then after that I thought we got ourselves in to the game.

"I wouldn’t say we dominated but we had a lot of possession in the first half, we just didn’t make their keeper work hard enough.

"In the main though it’s a great point coming down here.”

Rovers played the usual stylish brand of attacking football they’ve been known for this season but too often could not deliver god quality service for Manny Duku and later Lars Lokotsch.

They began to work the home keeper a bit more later in the second half but overall it was the hosts who had the better chances in the game.

"In the final third we let ourselves down,” said Smith.

"We didn’t get the final pass in to create enough opportunities.

"Amy point away from home in the Championship is a good point though and I thought our defence did outstanding and won a lot of headers.

"Jamie MacDonald showed his class, that’s why we brought him here, we needed a good experienced keeper and he helped us get the point today.

"At times we had to defend, particularly in the last ten minutes, a lot of long throw ins coming in.

"I thought we defended our box really well and I think we’re showing different sides to our game.

"Everyone knows we can play good football but we showed a different side in the last ten minutes, we had to dig in and I thought we held strong.”