FREE-scoring Ayr United star striker Lawrence Shankland praised his team for their great character and belief as they came from behind to overhaul basement team Falkirk.

And he admitted they knew a far greater effort was needed after the break after going in 2-0 down to Ray McKinnon's side.

They had been reeling after a 5-0 hammering away to Queen of the South two weeks earlier and had been determined to bounce back.

Shankland scored once for his 13th goal in 14 games to help ensure a 3-2 victory and move them into joint-second spot.

The hit man said: "We knew in the first half we were not good enough, we were giving them too much time to get on the ball, we were too far off them, the tempo wasn't there and they were picking up too many second goals. We came out and played at a real tempo, we knew if we got the first goal there was a chance of getting back into it. The goal opened up for me and I knew if I got a good strike it would go in and it sneaked through the goalie's hands.

"I was just happy to see the first goal go in. It was a bit of a doing by Queens. We were 2-0 down at half-time. That shows the character and the belief of the boys that they can get back into the match and we did that. We showed how good we can be and got a result."

Midfielder Alan Forrest was also impressed with the effort and said: "I had a hand in the last goal and it was good to see it over the line. Lawrence played really well today and he got the goal, it was also a brilliant strike from Andy Geggan for the second goal. We have no real target, we just want to win every game and see where that takes us. That was a good result for us."

Saturday sees Ayr head to Recreation Park to face Alloa Athletic and Forrest added: "We go into every game trying to win it but there are always tight games at Alloa and no easy ones in this league."

Manager Ian McCall was pleased with the display and said: "It's a great three points, we just don't do things easily.

When you come to Somerset Park you see all kinds of mad stuff.

"We gave them two goals and when a team are down on their luck you don't want to give them a lift. In the second half going forward, we were irresistible at times."