Wright delight as Naismith strikes late to secure points
A last-minute Jason Naismith strike ensured Kilmarnock kept up their perfect start to life in the Championship.
However, the Rugby Park men didn’t have all their own way against Queen of the South side at Palmerston Park.
And gaffer Tommy Wright hailed his side’s spirit to come through a difficult fixture.
Wright said: “We talked about it at length to the players that there’ll be games where we’ve just got to battle and break down the opposition. It was important we defended well the whole game and kept a clean sheet.
“When it’s 0-0, we were the team who were pushing forward but Queens worked extremely hard. Our substitutes came on and made a difference. We get a goal from our right-back in the last minute shows we weren’t going to accept it was going to end a draw.
“Looking back at the footage, we think it’s harsh decision to chalk off our goal in the first half. I don’t think it’s offside. The performance there was all about character and we kept going right until the end.”
After an even start, Wright’s men thought they edged ahead on 24 minutes when Chris Burke and Liam Polworth combined. However, the assistant raised his flag, adjudging Polworth to be offside and the goal was ruled out.
The best chance in the first half for Queens – who had manager Allan Johnston in the stands after his sending off last week – came
on 43 minutes when Ruari Paton’s header from an acute angle had to be punched clear by Zach Hemming.
The Doonhamers had another superb chance to take the lead minutes after the interval when Ruben Junior squared to Roberto Nditi on the edge of the box but he fired just inches over.
Queens were forced into a change on the hour mark as goalkeeper Josh Rae was hurt following a clash with Brandon Haunstrup as the Killie man went for the ball.
Teenager Charlie Cowie was drafted in for Rae and nerves maybe got the better of the youngster as he immediately picked up a passback to hand Killie a free kick inside the area.
Queens really should’ve scored the opener moments later, but Paton squandered a good chance after robbing Chris Stokes of the ball and he blazed his shot wide when a cutback to Ally Roy may have been the better option.
Then Cowie made a wonderful save to divert Blair Alston’s 30-yard effort over the bar as it looked destined for the top corner.
Killie were turning the screw but again Alston and Innes Cameron both struck their efforts at goal off target.
Just as it looked like Queens may pick up their first point of the season it was heartbreak for the Dumfries side as substitute Rumarn Burrell found Naismith in space inside the box and he made no mistake from eight yards.
A gutted Queens’ assistant boss Sandy Clark said: “It’s so disappointing, I feel for the guys so much. We put so much into the match and I don’t think we deserved to lose but that’s the cruel nature of how football is. Now it’s all about how we react.”