Date	Saturday, 10 April 2004
Competition	Scottish League Division 1
Fixture/Score	Ayr United 1:2 Ross County
Venue	Somerset Park
Referee	Andrew Hunter
Ross County
Manager	Alexander (Alex) Smith
Starting 11	1: Graeme Smith, 2: Martin Canning, 3: James Lauchlan, 4: John Rankin, 5: Mark McCulloch, 6: Stephen O'Donnell, 7: Jamie McCunnie, 8: Steven MacKay 1, 9: David Hannah 1, 10: Steven McGarry 1, 11: James Hamilton 1
Bench	0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Stuart Malcolm, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Bolade Ogunmade, 0: David Winters
Ayr United
Manager	Mark Shanks
Starting 11	Ludovic Roy, David Craig, Mark Campbell, Marc Smyth 1, Willie Lyle 1, Jordan Tait, Lee Hardy, Scott Chaplain, Aaron Black, Graeme Brown 1, Stewart Kean
Bench	John Hillcoat, Craig Conway, Andrew Ferguson, Boyd Mullen, Robert Burgess
Attendance	1,535
Match Report	Ross County Goal Scorers: Steven McGarry (19') Jim Hamilton (37') Ross County Substitutions: David Winters for Steven McGarry (62') Don Cowie for Stephen O'Donnell (75') Ross County Cautions: David Hannah (53') Steven MacKay (59') Ayr United Goal Scorer: Graeme Brown (90') Ayr United Substitutions: Andrew Ferguson for Jordan Tait (54') Boyd Mullen for Scott Chaplain (68') Craig Conway for Marc Smyth (75') Ayr United Cautions: Marc Smyth (42') Willie Lyle (58') Report from the Press & Journal. Ayr United 1 Ross County 2 Ross County manager Alex Smith has a 15-goal-a-season forward at the top of his summer shopping list, and he would like a new midfield playmaker at Dingwall as well. Smith revealed the areas where he feels his team needs improving for next season after seeing his side return to winning ways with a comfortable win against relegation-haunted Ayr United at Somerset Park on Saturday. He said: "The First Division is a tough league, but we've made massive improvements from last season. "However, coming off a big cup tie against Celtic definitely had repercussions and we went on a poor run which cost us. "We definitely need a schemer in midfield for next season and I feel a 15-goal forward would make all the difference." Smith had no cause to fault his forward pairing of Steven McGarry and Jim Hamilton on Saturday, with their first-half goals sending County on the road to victory. McGarry's fifth goal of the season after 19 minutes was a simple, angled header from a Steven Mackay cross. Hamilton doubled the lead eight minutes before the break with his fourth league goal of the campaign, the former Dons striker turning home a free kick from Stephen O'Donnell. Ayr gambled as the game progressed by throwing players forward, and County stretched them. Dingwall substitute Don Cowie and then Hamilton were both foiled with only home goalkeeper Ludovic Roy to beat. Andrew Ferguson had a chance to pull a goal back, but the young Ayr substitute's shot from the edge of the area flew over the bar. Geaeme Brown nodded home an injury-time consolation for Ayr, who, with only five games to go, now face an uphill fight to beat the First Division drop. Ayr manager Campbell Money said: "County have excellent players and I don't want to take anything away from their performance, but we were a disgrace in the first half."