AYR United boss Scott Brown is keen to address his side's second half issues after dropping points against Greenock Morton.
The Honest Men were held to a 1-1 draw after leading the Scottish Championship clash at Cappielow on Saturday.
Anton Dowds had fired in the opener before the break but Arron Lyall levelled for the home team shortly after the restart.
It is the third consecutive week in which Ayr have struggled after the restart, with seven goals conceded in the second half of matches during that time - and none scored.
In comparison, the South Ayrshire outfit have scored six in the opening period while keeping their opposition out at the other end.
“It's the last three games and it's disappointing," Brown commented. "I've got to take responsibility for that.
“I don't know what's happened at the start of the second half, but when we have three versus two, down this left-hand side, a couple of sloppy passes, we lose out, and then we end up all the way back at Liam [Russell].
“Then we kick the ball we’re open, and to be fair, Anton wins the ball, but then from there, there's no body contact whatsoever, there's not enough determination to defend.
“A couple of times we came here, disappointed not to come away with three points, which is a good thing for a football club, you can see where we are and where we're going.
“But at the same time, you've got to feel for the lads. I thought, for probably about 88 minutes, we were very, very good - but you can't switch off for two minutes.”
The Somerset boss believes that Anton Dowds is fast returning to his talismanic form in front of goal that his Ayr side need.
Anton Dowds celebrates after opening the scoring (Image: Gary Bradley)
The 29-year old made it three goals in four games with his strike at Cappielow.
“It's brilliant, it's great confidence for him,” Brown added, “but also fantastic for the football club as well, because that's the number nine that we've been looking for all season.
“We've got Marky [Mark McKenzie] and Murph [Jamie Murphy] in there, chipping in with the goals, you've got Ethan [Walker] coming back next week as well, so we're in a good place going forward.
“We'll hopefully have Jude [Bonnar] and Dico [Liam Dick] back on the bench as well for selection too, so it'll give us hopefully a stronger bench.”
Ayr will end 2025 fourth in the Scottish Championship table, with their next game on January 3.
When they turn out to face Queen’s Park that day, the squad may already look different with Brown revealing that he’s keen to get busy in the transfer window.
“Yeah, definitely,” the manager responded when quizzed on whether he expects there to be movement next month.
“We need to get a couple of players out, we need to get a couple of players in as well, so there is room there to try and do stuff, but we need to make sure we manipulate it quite well.”
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