Ayr United 0, St Mirren 2 as Buddies ease into last 16 of Scottish Cup

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ayr boss Lee Bullen admits he's learning plenty about his new side after a Scottish Cup exit at the hands of St Mirren. The Honest Men were swept away by an early Buddies' blitz that saw the Premiership side race two up inside 24 minutes.Now Bullen has challenged his men to come back fighting in a massive two weeks of league football that will go a long way to defining their season.The head coach said: "The early goal knocked the stuffing out of us today and then we looked to lose a bit of confidence in the shape we were trying to play."The second goal was the killer and then we had to readjust."We had a go in the second half but you have to test the goalie more than we did."Every game is a learning one for us at the moment."Our bread and butter is next week in the league and we have five games in two weeks coming up."Bullen, who hopes to complete a loan deal for Charlton midfielder Ben Dempsey in the coming days, knows reinforcements will aid the cause.And he said: "We might get one, maybe two in over the next week or so."But we have boys on the bench today who are also capable of coming in and having an impact during a big two weeks of football ahead."Ayr had gone with an unfamiliar back three as they looked to counter Saints and it was United who began on the front foot.

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