Ayr United stayed in the Championship title hunt with a 2-0 victory at rock-bottom Hamilton.

Ben Dempsey opened the scoring with a penalty after 12 minutes, firing low and hard following a handball.

The visitors always looked dangerous and Paddy Reading’s shot from the edge of the area cleared the crossbar before Sam Ashford doubled their advantage after 27 minutes with a first-time finish from Dipo Akinyemi’s fine pass.

Akinyemi was inches away from tapping in a third early in the second half and he had another effort just short of the hour mark that Ryan Fulton did well to save.

Fulton was busy in the closing stages, making a string of stops to keep the score down.