Ayr United suffered a nightmare begin to their massive derby towards Kilmarnock – as followers had been seen leaving within the sixteenth minute.
Lee Bullen's Sincere Males went into Ayrshire's greatest fixture as underdogs however a 4-0 Championship thumping of Raith the earlier weekend gave trigger for cautious optimism.
It was quick lived nevertheless when Derek McInnes' facet stormed right into a 3-0 lead within the opening 16 minutes.
Rory McKenzie, Oli Shaw and Jack Sanders inflicted the injury that left Ayr with a mountain to climb.
And it was at that second quite a lot of residence followers had seen sufficient – with some pictured heading for the Somerset Park exits simply moments later.
Bullen then despatched for a double substitution earlier than the 20 minute mark as Mark McKenzie and James Maxwell had been introduced off, the latter wanting lower than impressed at being sacrificed.
Chants of "one staff in Ayrshire" rang across the floor earlier than the nightmare begin was compounded when one among Ayr's substitutes, Markus Fjortoft, was despatched off after solely 10 minutes on the park for hauling down Shaw.
Kerr McInroy did handle to drag a objective again for the hosts earlier than half time as his highly effective low strike from distance beat Zach Hemming.