Clark slams Killie critics and demands positive press for seeing off Saints
Lee Clark watched his Kilmarnock side record their first clean sheet of the campaign then claimed his troops get too hard a time.
Scott Boyd headed home Jordan Jones’ corner 14 minutes from time as the Rugby Park outfit won their first league game in over two months.
Clark, whose side shipped 10 goals in their last two Premiership games against Celtic and Aberdeen, moved up to ninth – level on points with Inverness Caley Thistle – thanks to a first victory in seven.
However, Clark says the public perception of Killie and Caley Jags’ start to the season has been vastly different. He said: “People were talking about how Inverness have had a brilliant start. But we have the same points as them now.
“We seem to have some negativity around our club but we have to have a bit of realism.
“It has been a long two weeks since the heavy defeats to Celtic and Aberdeen. We had a lot of soulsearching and discussions about what went wrong in those games.
“We faced two outstanding sides who are poles apart from ourselves but we felt we could have done better in those games.
“We had the positivity towards the end of the week and we began to believe again. I think we have shown that against a very good team.
“It’s our first clean sheet and that’s crucial for me.
“I told the lads it’s about putting their bodies on the line and then you might get a break from a set-piece like we did to get this win.”
Clark’s side suffered a massive setback 15 minutes in when Jonathan Burn had to be replaced by Boyd after suffering a bloodied and broken nose.
Three minutes later Liam Craig bulleted in a fine header from 18 yards following Ricky Foster’s cross only for Jamie MacDonald to dive to his right to turn it around the post.
MacDonald came to Killie’s rescue again in 20 minutes when he diverted Blair Alston’s sidefooted effort wide after Chris Kane had teed him up.
St Johnstone had a cast- iron penalty shout turned down in 36 minutes when Boyd bodychecked Steven Anderson in the area only for referee Steven McLean – who was a
few feet away from the incident – to wave play on.
Saints’ Steven MacLean found the net seconds later when he rolled the ball past MacDonald although his celebrations were cut short when he was hauled up for offside.
The home side carved out a fantastic opportunity when Murray Davidson played a one- two with Alston but he dragged his effort wide.
However, it was Kilmarnock who broke the deadlock when they took a shock lead in 76 minutes.
Jones floated over a corner – the away side’s first of the match – and Boyd broke through a ruck of bodies inside the six-yard box to bury a header home. Graham Cum min sal most salvaged a point in the last minute when the Saints sub drove past MacDonald only to see his shot blocked on the line by Luke Hendrie.
St Johnstone remain fifth after a first defeat in five league games and boss Tommy Wright said: “It looks like we should have had a penalty.
“I have seen it back and it is a barge. Some you get and some you don’t. We had loads of chances and their goalkeeper pulled off a couple of good saves. “In the second half we played into their hands in terms of the t empo we played at. We have lost a game we should have won and only have ourselves to blame.”