Ayr United boss Lee Bullen hails five star Honest Men after Cove rout

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Lee Bullen insists a clean sheet at Cove meant just as much to him as Ayr's five goal rout in the north east.United put on brilliant show for the TV cameras as they moved one point off the top of the Championship.A clinical attacking display saw Josh Mullin (2), Nick McAllister, Ben Dempsey and Fraser Bryden put sorry Cove to the sword.But Bullen reckons it was Ayr's solidity at the back which gave him even more cheer.He said: "We were outstanding from start to finish.

It wasn't easy to get going in the first half but we got our goal to edge ahead."We felt we needed to up the tempo at half time and we did that.

All credit to the lads because they kicked on - but I'm just as pleased with the clean sheet as I am with those five goals."Cove have a lot of new lads who were out to impress but slowly but surely our lads took a grip of the game."I've said to the lads to enjoy their night but Cove will have learned a lot from this and Paul Hartley will get them right back on track."They'll be a totally different animal when we come back up here on Tuesday and we'll face an entirely different game."Ayr's five star show was headlined by a classy display from Mullin, who scored twice and laid on another for Dempsey.Attention is now turning to whether Ayr can prevent him returning to parent club Livingston before the end of the January transfer window.Mullin said: "It was a really professional performance from us and the manner in which we ended the game was really important."We've put the pressure on Queen's Park and Dundee and can now sit back with our feet up."At the moment I'm cup tied for Tuesday night so I will leave that to others to discuss and sort out behind the scenes to see what's happening moving forward."Ayr were dealt