Perth men are dumped in Premiership opener
Liam Gordon halts the progress of Mikael Ndjoli Kilmarnock ................... 2 St Johnstone ................. 0 Perth fans made the trip to Ayrshire hoping to take in similar scenes to last season’s opener at the same venue.
But St Johnstone couldn’t repeat their late-match heroics and instead suffered a disappointing defeat in a game lacking much excitement.
The travelling supporters, who numbered 389, had little opportunity to rise from their seats throughout the afternoon as Saints struggled to create.
Kilmarnock were much the same in the opening half before raising the tempo after the break to net twice and seal the three points.
Zander Clark’s uncharacteristic poor handling paved the way for Scott Boyd to nudge home the opener as the hour mark approached. And then substitute Mikael Ndjoli slammed into the top corner in the closing stages to inflict further pain on the Perth side.
“It’s massively disappointing in terms of the way we lost the game in the end,” said midfielder Liam Craig, who was thrown into the action late on.
“The second goal is a great strike but we give the ball away in an area where they can counter on us.
“There’s disappointment after doing so well in the cup games leading into this.
“There wasn’t much in the first half at all but nobody is going to feel sorry for us and we’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves.
“David McMillan has had a header at the back post but throughout the game we didn’t have a cutting edge. But, to be fair, until the