JONES WON’T BE INTIMIDATED BY BROWN’S BULLY BOY ANTICS

TRADING verbal blows with Celtic captain Scott Brown added to an eventful experience for Kilmarnock winger Jordan Jones in his side’s 3-1 defeat at Parkhead. The ex-Middlesbrough forward briefly gave Killie hope of a point with a second-half equaliser before his side succumbed to goals from Scott Sinclair and James Forrest. Despite disappointment at the result, Jones claims he stood up to Brown’s attempts at ‘intimidation’ as the pair indulged in a running conflict. ‘It was ongoing,’ said the 22-year-old Englishman. ‘He tries to intimidate you, but that’s the way it is. He fouled me and then had a little chirp at me, so I gave him some back. ‘It’s part of his image to try to intimidate but he’s not going to intimidate me, so he can try what he wants. He was the one who ended up with a yellow card. ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s him or anyone else. Players deal with it differently. Some stay quiet, I give it back. ‘Celtic have very good players and you have to respect them but you only respect them so much. At the end of the day, it’s 11 v 11 and Brown was the one who tried to intimidate me.’ With Partick Thistle winning on Saturday, even a famous victory over the champions would not have been enough to maintain Kilmarnock’s hopes of a top-six finish. Jones, though, feels Lee McCulloch’s side have enough quality to avoid becoming embroiled in the relegation issue. ‘One hundred per cent,’ he insisted. ‘We are devastated not to make top six. If you look at the season, we have gone on a lot of runs when we could have kicked on, but it wasn’t to be. ‘We now have to try to finish as high as we can. ‘We’ve been doing really well and the lads have a lot of belief, so we can’t allow this result to knock our confidence. ‘We were massive underdogs and we lost but it’s brushed under the carpet. ‘It’s about Hearts on Friday now and we’re full of confidence that we can take three points, no doubt about it.’