Dundee boss Gary Bowyer says Ayr United’s biggest challenge this season will be keeping hold of their manager Lee Bullen and star man Dipo Akinyemi.
The Dark Blues welcome the Championship’s surprise package to Dens Park on Saturday trailing the Honest Men by three points.
Bullen’s side are level with leaders Partick Thistle after nine games with frontman Akinyemi already in double figures for league goals after a hat-trick last time out.
That came as Ayr smashed Queen’s Park 5-0, leapfrogging the Spiders in the process.
“I watched them last Saturday and they were very clinical in front of goal,” Bowyer said.
“They did very well in the window.
“They have a wonderful manager in Lee Bullen, I’ve known of him a long time from his time at Sheffield Wednesday. In my opinion, he should have been given a chance there.
“Ayr’s biggest challenge this season will be keeping hold of Lee and keeping hold of Dipo Akinyemi up front when the window opens in January.
“They are very well coached.
“He has had two windows to bring in his own players and mould them. They play good football, they have a threat.
“We have seen some areas we feel we can exploit so it’s up to us to do that.
“I’m really looking forward to the game.”
Danger man Akinyemi
Akinyemi leads the Championship scoring charts with double the tally of the duo tied in second place, Simon Murray and Robbie Muirhead, both of whom have five to their name.
And he’s already found the net twice against Dundee this season, scoring the equaliser at Somerset Park back in August before smashing in a superb clincher in the second half.
Bowyer and his backroom staff have a plan to try to keep him quiet but the Dens Park gaffer admits Ayr have more than just one threat to watch out for.
“Any striker in any team will tell you, it’s not down to just the one individual. It’s about the service provided to him,” the Dundee boss added.
“We can’t just put a gameplan together just for him.
“They have recruited well over the summer so they have players with ability setting him up.
“We have to try to cut off the supply to him.
“But also not base everything around what they do, it’s about what we do.”
‘Marathon not a sprint’
Much has been made of Dundee’s start to the league campaign with Bowyer’s side having lost four times in the Championship in their opening 10 matches.
This is his first experience of the Scottish Championship after a decade of management in the English Football League.
Currently the top four teams are separated by just one point.
And Bowyer predicts the tight nature of the division will continue right through the campaign.
“I think it is one of the most competitive leagues I’ve been involved in,” he added.
“We are three points off top but I think it is a league that will go all the way to the wire.
“Looking at the teams we’ve played, no one has out-run us, no one out-fought us or out-played us.
“All the games are very close and it’s about fine margins.
“We are top of the league on chances created so that just tells you how those key moments in games are so important.
“I don’t think we’ll see a team run away with it.
“It’s a case of realising it’s a marathon not a sprint, and persevering with the process.”
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