Killie keeper has last Laff
Naismith opened his Jambos account after Eamonn Brophy gave Killie a third-minute lead as Stevie Clarke’s side continued a run of just one defeat on the road in their last 12 outings.
But Levein didn’t hold back in his criticism of Lafferty who he admits had one of his poorest nights in a Hearts jersey.
He said: “In any game you’d be settling for a penalty in the last minute to win it.
“Unfortunately it just didn’t go our way. Kyle’s penalty kind of summed up his performance. His penalty attempt was quite sloppy and hit with hope rather than any real determination.
“With these things you’re hopeful they’ll score. I’ve never believed you’re 100 per cent guaranteed to score. It’s not just down to the penalty taker, is it?
“I’m talking through frustration. To not win it with a penalty in the last minute is frustrating
“He did some good things but he was off it a bit tonight. He has been really good but he wasn’t at his best. I can’t be too critical as he’s our top scorer and has bailed us out on many occasions.
“Even if you forget about his penalty it was far from his best performance.”
Hearts remain in fifth spot after maintaining a 12-game unbeaten home run since returning to Tynecastle in November.
But Levein said: “We didn’t start well – that’s my biggest gripe.
“If we had started on the front foot and played aggressively to put them under pressure the game was there for winning. When we did that we looked like we would win comfortably but we didn’t do it enough.
“We ended up playing for parts of the first half trying to get back into the game. Thankfully we did get back into it as Kilmarnock are a tough opponent to break down when they get a lead.
“We worked really hard during the week to get the ball wide quickly and didn’t really do that.
“I looked at some of the footage at half-time and on the one occasion we did get the ball wide then put it into the box Naisy scores.
“It’s frustrating the way we dominated the game for long spells and didn’t manage to carve Kilmarnock open on as many occasions as I would have liked.”
Clarke admitted a sense of relief over Lafferty’s penalty failure but he was adamant justice was served.
The Killie boss said: “You always think a lastminute penalty is going to go against you but Jamie produced a really good save. We deserved a point – nobody could begrudge us a point.
“We almost nicked it with a great header from Jordan Jones.
“McLaughlin made another outstanding save – he has made a habit of that this year – so we’re pleased to get the point. It would have been a sore one if we had conceded from the penalty.
“Credit to both teams, they tried to play. The surface wasn’t the best with a lot of people slipping and falling over.
“Both goals you could probably put down to the pitch a little bit.”
CRAIG LEVEIN last night revealed he feared Kyle Lafferty’s sub-par display would be capped with a stoppage-time penalty miss that cost victory.
The Hearts boss watched the
GORDON PARKS
Northern Irishman squander an effort from the spot as his weak effort was kept out by keeper Jamie MacDonald. Steven