Ayr United 0, Arbroath 0 as Honest Men left to rue missed chances in Championship opener

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Lee Bullen tonight backed his strikers to come good after Ayr let Arbroath off the hook.United blew a host of first half chances as the Lichties escaped Somerset with a point.And Bullen insists his side WILL find the magic formula in front of goal after a performance that left plenty to build on.He said: "Eventually it is going to click and we need the supporters to stick with the boys."We gave one of the favourites for the league a real going over today - especially in that first half."The biggest credit we get is a manager of Dick Campbell's pedigree had to make three changes at half time."We're playing positive front-foot football and creating chances and it simply has to turn for us."The clean sheet was another positive and we just keep having to work away because these chances will start to fall for us."Bullen named a 4-4-2 with Jayden Mitchell-Lawson and Sam Ashford on the wings and Ayr flew from the traps against last season's surprise packages.Ashford missed two great opportunities in the early stages while Fraser Bryden was also denied by Derek Gaston.Dipo Akinyemi blazed over with just the keeper to beat during a storming opening from the hosts.It was all one way traffic and a furious Campbell was forced into a triple change at the interval as he tried to wrestle back some control for the visitors.The switches seemed to stem the tide, with Mitchell-Lawson kept far quieter after the break as Arbroath shored up down the Ayr left.James Craigen, one of the half time changes, also drew a good stop from Charlie Albinson as the Lichties almost grabbed the lead on the hour.United continued to dominate the ball but struggled to carve open the defence with the same fluency in the second half as they were ultimately