Millen’s dismissal and fear factor lost us the game, admits Dyer
KILMARNOCK manager Alex Dyer admitted that St Johnstone could smell fear in his players during the closing stages of yesterday’s contest at Rugby Park.
Trying to defend a 1-0 lead with 10 men due to Ross Millen’s red card, Killie ultimately buckled under the pressure as they tried to hang on for their first win of the new season.
St Johnstone scored twice inside the final five minutes through David Wotherspoon and Michael O’Halloran — and Dyer knows his side must do better.
‘We were in control of the game but the sending-off changes it,’ said the Killie boss. ‘They smelled a little fear in us and they capitalised on it.
‘It’s a bad day. We were comfortable in the game, controlled it. Up to the point of the sending-off, we were alright.
‘That changed the game, although there was still enough time for us to regroup and organise ourselves but we gave away two goals from two silly errors, to be honest.’
It was Stuart Findlay who was guilty of the biggest mistake. He sold the jerseys with a kamikaze backpass to goalkeeper Danny Rogers in the final few seconds.
O’Halloran pounced to score a last-gasp winner for Saints and, for a centre-back with aspirations of playing for Scotland, it is not one Findlay will want to see again in a hurry.
The consequences were ruinous. Findlay has been terrific in recent times for Killie, but he’ll know that blind backpasses to your goalkeeper are a wholly inadvisable course of action.
Insisting that his defender simply must do better, Dyer added: ‘Stuart is honest and has enough experience to know what he should have done. It wasn’t the right decision.
‘When you are down to 10 men, you just put the ball in the stand and regroup. He didn’t, so we have to learn and he has to learn.
‘It wasn’t fatigue. He ran past the lad. He sprinted past Kirk (Broadfoot) and he should have just cleared it.
‘His head was down as he played it to the goalkeeper when he should have cleared it himself. He just has to learn from that.’
Dyer had no qualms about Millen’s sending-off. Shortly after Killie had taken the lead, he dived into a reckless challenge with Scott Tanser with his studs showing.
Admitting that referee Andrew Dallas had no option but to show a red card, Dyer said: ‘It’s a sending-off. I don’t think he caught the lad but obviously he’s dived in and his studs were showing. He’s given the ref a decision to make and he’s made one.
‘We just wanted to win a game and maybe left ourselves open a little bit.
‘It’s early days but we don’t want to get left behind. We want to start winning and, the longer you leave it, the more anxious players and managers get.’