Robbo left‘shell-shocked’by Killie loss
Stephen Robinson admitted he was left shell-shocked after St Mirren were swept away by Kilmarnock’s goal rush.
The Buddies boss insists hard lessons will need learned following Saturday’s shocker – and branded the conceding of five goals in the space of 18 minutes“not acceptable”.
Saints surrendered a 2-0 half-time lead as the East Ayrshire men fought back in sensational fashion to reclaim fourth place in the Premiership table.
Robinson assessed the second-half showing as“naive” and felt the game just slipped away from his side.
He said:“I’m shell-shocked to be honest. It’s difficult to explain because we were in total control.
“We were excellent in the first half and we asked them to do the same again.
“It wasn’t a tactical change that caused us problems. We didn’t deal with a ball over the top and the front two threw us about. “They bullied us.
“We spoke as a collective, myself included, in the dressing room to say we have to learn from that.
“When the momentum starts swinging the other way, you have to deal with that and we didn’t.
“It was five but it could have been more. We’ve got to learn lessons from that; how to close the game down.
“The experienced boys did not manage the game properly and we got punished.
“To concede five goals in 18 minutes is not acceptable. We all have to look at ourselves.
“It’s very, very uncharacteristic for us. We’re not in the position we’re in if you play like that for long periods of games but we got punished for all five mistakes.
“When we cleared the ball it just kept coming back. We didn’t have any ownership of the game.
“The momentum kept increasing and we couldn’t deal with it. We looked naive, especially in that 18-minute spell.”
Saints have the international break to mull things over before a trip to Motherwell and Robinson is adamant there won’t be a lasting impact on his team.
The gaffer added:“There won’t be a hangover. If that was something that was happening every week, there would be.”