Ayr striker Sam Ashford admits the dressing room was "gutted" to let down the Somerset faithful on a dramatic derby night.
United were caught in the Somerset headlights as they fell 3-0 behind in the opening 16 minutes.
And when Markus Fjortoft was sent packing on the half hour - just 10 minutes after coming on as a sub - they were toast.
Ashford admits Ayr threw themselves to the wolves after their shocking start, but insists they must move on as quickly as possible ahead of a big run-in.
He told the Ayrshire Post: "The first 15 minutes are crucial - especially in this league - and to start so poorly was a massive disappointment.
"From there, I thought the boys did well to stick in at 3-1 and at least look like we could make a fight of it.
"Coming off the back of a 4-0 win last week the spirits were high, but no matter who you're playing you have to go again.
"So we just need to get over this as quickly as possible because we have a number of big games coming up."
Ayr were badly undone by two corner kicks and looked shaky at set pieces during their rocky opening to the contest.
And Ashford added: "We work hard on our set pieces at training and do a lot of video analysis.
"But it still comes down to showing the desire and right attitude that you want it more and we didn't do that at the start of the game.
"To concede such simple goals that we could have stopped is the frustrating thing.
"I played in the derby up there last month and the atmosphere was amazing when we won, so we're gutted to have let the fans down tonight.
"But we can't focus on it for too long and the key is we show the right attitude and move on as quickly as we can."
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