Ayr United 3-1 Partick Thistle: Ayr stay in Championship as Thistle secure play-off spot
- Published
Aaron Muirhead (left) scored two penalties for Ayr
Ayr United secured Scottish Championship football next season as Partick Thistle sealed a promotion play-off quarter-final despite defeat.
Former Thistle striker Aaron Muirhead scored two penalties either side of a Tomi Adeloye header through goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon's legs.
Alex Jakubiak's reply came too late to spark a Thistle comeback.
Ayr finish eighth, four points ahead of Dunfermline, to avoid a relegation play-off, while Thistle stay in fourth.
Dunfermline needed to better Ayr's result to overtake them but lost at home to Queen of the South despite taking an early lead shortly before Muirhead's opener at Somerset Park sent Ayr on their way to ending a run of seven home games without a victory.
There needed to be an eight-goal swing for Raith Rovers to overtake Thistle with victory and the Kirkcaldy side also fell short after their 1-1 draw with champions Kilmarnock.
Thistle, who were without manager Ian McCall through illness and who rested five players, host Inverness Caledonian Thistle in Tuesday's first leg for the right to face Arbroath in the Premiership promotion play-off semi-final.
Ayr United manager Lee Bullen: "I'm just disappointed we lost that goal as I would have loved the lads to get that clean sheet, but let's not cry over spilt milk - it was a brilliant performance and such a big win for the club.
"They deserve a lot of credit because there's a lot of mental strength needed, and mental tiredness in that sort of thing, to control emotions."
Partick Thistle assistant manager Alan Archibald: "It wasn't good enough. We started really poorly and it was stop-start with the couple of early injuries that didn't help.
"The team will be different on Tuesday, no doubt about it, and we'll reset and be ready to go. Ayr had everything to play for, we had a couple of guys playing with illnesses on top of the injuries and it obviously played its part."