DISILLUSIONED Ayr United defender Craig Reid says victory is vital in Saturday's clash away to Raith Rovers following another disappointing home performance.

The Honest Men went down 2-1 to Arbroath - just a week after crashing to a shock 3-2 home loss against basement team Forfar Athletic.

United now trail the new leaders by a point, but the Honest Men have played two games more.

Reid said after the game: "We are obviously so disappointed, especially losing at home from a winning position, if you want to win league titles that has to stop. There were chances in the first half to be 3-0 or 4-0 up, but we really have to be more ruthless. We should have had a penalty in the first half for a handball from Declan McDaid's cross and that could have put us 2-0 up."

However the former Motherwell man was disappointed with the second half display and said: "We were not good enough in the second half when we should have seen the game out. The second goal was a really cheap one to lose, which makes it even more disappointing, after a good result at Stranraer last Tuesday."

Reid is now turning his attention fully to the crunch clash at Stark's Park and said: "Now we must go up to Kirkcaldy and look to win the match. I can't put my finger on what has gone wrong in the last few weeks or we would be able to fix it. We must be positive that we can still win the league, we know we can win the majority of games in this league and that is what we have got to do. We can only go into the next game and try to rectify it from there."

Manager Ian McCall is considering bringing in a goalie with Jordan Hart being blamed by fans for the winning goal.

He said: "I will try and get a goalie."

He added: "We didn't play well in the second half but now have seven injuries after Chris Higgins went off with a calf strain. We have handed the initiative to Raith following the last two home performances."

Meanwhile defender/midfielder Steven Bell made his debut after joining from Stranraer on Friday.

He said: "There was interest from other clubs but after speaking to my new gaffer I knew this was where I wanted to come. Ayr being at the top of the league was a huge factor as I want to win something, the older I get the less chance I will have to do that so I have a real hunger to succeed. I have played at Somerset many times and I always felt the Somerset Road as being intense so it will be good to have them on my side now."