Bullen praises high-flying Ayr

AYR UNITED preserved their position at the summit of the Championship with a win at Cappielow that manager Lee Bullen described as their most important of the season so far.

Bullen was pleased with the character his side displayed as they stood up to the challenge of Dougie Imrie’s side to secure a win with goals in either half from Dipo Akinyemi and Mark McKenzie, with Robbie Muirhead pulling one back for Morton.

Bullen said: ‘Without doubt, the biggest three points of the season for us. You know you’re going to get a battle against Morton, Dougie has his players really working for him. I learned a lot about the character of my side.’

Morton spurned several chances before Akinyemi bagged his seventh goal in five league games as he drilled a left-foot shot into the bottom corner after 35 minutes. After the interval, Akinyemi turned provider in the 75th minute as he flashed a cut-back across goal for strike partner McKenzie to turn in.

Muirhead halved the deficit with ten minutes remaining as he headed home from close range but Ayr withstood the late pressure to preserve their unbeaten league start.

Morton boss Imrie said: ‘Ayr deserved to win the game, so credit to them when they got their chances they took them. On the flip side, when we got them we only took one.

‘Bitterly disappointed to lose. We could easily have been three up at half-time with the chances we had. It was a lack of composure.’