Dunfermline host second-placed Ayr United in Tuesday's rearranged fixture. The cold weather at the weekend in Scotland necessitated this game being pushed back from Saturday, but both sides will be keen to take to the pitch given their recent form. Ayr have rediscovered their early season form, and have only lost one match of their last 8. Entering the final stages of a change in ownership, Dunfermline parted ways with young manager McPake just before Christmas and were immediately rewarded in the form of results and performances.

Dunfermline hosted top of the table Falkirk in their first match under caretaker manager John McLaughlan, deploying a much more expansive style of play. The Pars managed a 3-3 draw against the league leaders, scoring an injury time equaliser to boost the side sat in second-bottom in the league. They followed this up with an impressive 4-1 dismantling of Partick Thistle in Glasgow, a game in which they showed good resilience to continue attacking after Thistle equalised within 2 minutes of the opener and registered 12 shots at one of the toughest venues to travel to in the division.

Ayr United started the season in impeccable form, going unbeaten in their first 8 matches. After a lull in autumn, the Ayrshire side have rediscovered their strong performances and have got themselves back to within 5 points of top-of-the-table Falkirk. They hosted Dunfermline's rivals Raith Rovers last time out, with a thumping 3-0 win thanks to a hat-trick from Oakley in the first 25 minutes.

Earlier in the season, Dunfermline hosted Ayr in a 1-1 draw. Both goals came very early in this match before the teams began to cancel each other out. Ayr bested Dunfermline 1-0 in November in a tighter match, but the improvement in performances under Dunfermline's caretaker manager along with home advantage should see Dunfermline looking to better these results. The more attacking style of play in the last two matches has seen Dunfermline score a third of their total goals for their 20 match season so far in just their last 2 matches.

Our analysis suggests that the more expansive style adopted by caretaker John McLaughlan hasn't been factored in to the total goals pricing in Tuesday night's tie, and the goal expectancy should be much higher than the market suggests.