Ayr United manager Jim Duffy says his side deserved their point against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, as they drew 2-2 with them at the weekend.

Thistle and Ayr went into the match both looking to get back to winning ways in the Scottish Championship.

It was the away side who started the match on the front foot and grabbed the opener early on in the first half at Somerset Park.

Ex-Ayr winger Tom Walsh whipping in a cross from the left which found the head of Sean Welsh.

The hosts were not behind for long however, and grabbed an equaliser two minutes later. Andy Murdoch’s corner was turned in by Joe Chalmers to level.

Thistle soon regained their lead though through Michael Gardyne to go into the break ahead.

But the Honest Men battled back in the second half to level, with Jonathon Afolabi feeding in Paddy Reading to strike and ensure the points were shared.

Speaking to the Advertiser, Duffy said:”It was an extremely difficult match, Inverness are an excellent side that is the reason why they have been challenging up the top of the league from day one.

“But over the piece, I felt a draw was a fair result.”

Next up for the Honest Men is the visit of Partick Thistle this weekend.

Ayr have already faced Partick this season, in Duffy’s first game as permanent manager, and lost 4-0 at Firhill.

Duffy says the Honest Men learned a lot from that defeat and will not be standing off Partick on Saturday,

He said: “The big thing that the players should have learned the last time is to not let them dictate the play.

“The last game we stood off them and allowed them to choose exactly how they wanted to play.

“We were too nice, so we need to try and get after Thistle a little bit more and make it a difficult game.

“But as much as we want to make sure we can stamp our style on the game, the opposition will always have a lot to say about it.

“Partick Thistle, like just every other team in this division are notoriously hard to play against.”