Lee Bullen reckons his Ayr side deserve praise for winning ugly after edging past Hamilton.
Josh Mullin's first half free kick was enough to keep United in the title hunt - and leave Accies cut adrift at the bottom.
And Bullen insists the points were more important than a performance which was not for the purists.
He said: "It was never going to be a great game - it was in doubt until an hour before kick off due to all the weather we'd had.
"Our confidence had taken a hit off the back of two defeats so it was important we bounced back.
"I thought we shaded the game and our keeper didn't have any real saves to make.
"Hamilton will win a game at some point and the danger was always that it came against us. So that was a banana skin for us.
"We got a lot of plaudits for our offensive stuff earlier in the season but we were also leaking goals.
"So to get the clean sheet was a major plus and we're a week nearer to some players coming back from injury."
A morning deluge had thrown the game into doubt with ref Calum Scott holding a pitch inspection 75 minutes before kick off.
But the sodden surface got the green light and Ayr were able to hand a first start in over two months to Arsenal loan centre half Alex Kirk.
However, they suffered a huge blow within 120 seconds of kick off when Andy Murdoch limped off having aggravated the thigh strain which had made him a doubt during the week.
United strugged to get their rhythm in a stop-start first half but still created the best chances, with Dipo Akinyemi teeing up Mikey Hewitt to fire over from six yards.
Josh Mullin then shot straight at Ryan Fulton with a low drive before Ayr got the breakthrough in the 32nd minute with a deflected free kick from Mullin.
United lived dangerously before the break with both Nick McAllister and Hewitt required to make last ditch clearances.
Accies laboured after the interval and never really looked like landing a blow to get back into the game.
Ayr were happy to give up plenty of possession and hit on the break, and Mullin almost grabbed his second with a low drive as they saw it out.
Accies boss John Rankin said: "I thought it was one of our best defensive displays but up front we looked almost toothless at times."
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