Dunfermline moved away from immediate trouble in the congested bottom half of the Scottish Championship with a 2-0 win over Ayr.

Chris Hamilton had already seen one header bounce off the crossbar and over before he turned in Paul Allan’s corner to open the scoring in the 41st minute.

The hosts then doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time when Chris Kane scored his first goal for the club, robbing Ayr skipper Sean McGinty before finishing from inside the box.

Ayr saw Anton Dowds’ effort deflected narrowly wide at the start of the second half but rarely looked like getting back into the game.