Anton Dowds hit a hat-trick as Ayr won 3-2 at Airdrie to move into the top-half of the cinch Championship.

The Partick loanee opened the scoring at Excelsior Stadium with just eight minutes on the clock, although the sides would go in level at the break as Cammy Ballantyne finished a free-flowing move.

Dowds tapped in his second of the afternoon from close-range having been played in by Jamie Murphy and completed his hat-trick by finishing off a quick free-kick.

That proved enough to secure the points for the Honest Men, although Airdrie did pull another back late on through Craig Watson’s effort.