AYR United boss Scott Brown credited his side's challenging pre-season efforts which paved the way for their perfect start to the Scottish Championship season.

The Honest Men got their campaign off to a flier on Saturday, August 3, as they earned a 2-0 win away to newly promoted Hamilton Academical.

The match started in a frantic manner, end-to-end, manner but it was United who seized the early initiative when George Stanger poked home the opener beyond former Ayr stopper Charlie Albinson.

With a narrow lead at half-time, their were chances at either end thereafter but a second yellow and subsequent red card for Hamilton's Scott Martin gave Ayr the extra incentive to put the game to bed.

They done exactly that only minutes after their opponents were reduced to ten with Anton Dowds adding a second for the away side as he slotted home the second after an inch perfect through pass.

Speaking to Ayr United TV after the match, manager Brown hailed the professional performance put on by his side.

He commented: “It was solid from the first minute all the way to the 95th minute.

“The lads have taken a lot from pre-season, the games and the quality of opposition that we’ve played against.

“They’ve put that into this game. There was a huge build up to this game and you know in this league that anyone can beat anyone.

“Today’s performance was professional, solid and controlled as well. There was a lot of periods of plays that we had a lot of possession and we didn’t really feel like there was too much of a threat."

While the Somerset Park boss was particularly pleased by the way his team reacted to playing against ten men.

He added: “Especially when they went down to ten men and we started to press a little bit more.

“Sometimes you can jump out of shape and all want to score a goal but they done that really well and they held their positions and kept working hard.

“You need to make sure you control the game and that’s what we tried to do in the first half.

“They switched it up a little bit in the second half but we had the lads prepared for that.

“The information we are giving them they are taking in extremely well and it showed in the second half performance.”

While goalscorer Dowds was also pleased with the performance, in particular that of the substitutes who were introduced into the game.

He told Ayr United TV: “Whether you’re starting or not starting the game, you need to know what your roles and expectations are.

“It means when those substitutions happen everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

“You seen the strength in depth with the players who came on but also the players that didn’t come on.

“The gaffer said he wants competition for places in every position – I think you’re seeing that when subs happen – we didn’t drop off and we could have had a few more.”

Next up for Ayr is a Friday night fixture against Airdrieonians on August 9 at Somerset Park, with kick off at 7.45pm.