Kris Boyd says Kilmarnock didn’t do enough

Kilmarnock's Kris Boyd (left) levels the score. Picture: SNS

Partick Thistle 1-1 Kilmarnock

Scorers: Partick Thistle - Muirhead (11 pen); Kilmarnock - Boyd (48)

Referee: B Madden

Attendance: 4,310

Thistle dominated the first half of the Scottish Premiership clash at Firhill and opened the scoring through an Aaron Muirhead penalty.

Killie had already survived when a Kirs Doolan effort was disallowed for handball in the build-up. Referee Bobby Madden pointed to the spot shortly afterwards for a high challenge by Manuel Pascali on Steven Lawless and Muirhead confidently lashed home the penalty to give Thistle the lead after 11 minutes.

Boyd threw Killie a lifeline with the leveller early in the second half when he threw himself at a Sean Clohessy cross and left Scott Fox with no chance with a great header.

The Partick goalkeeper was called into action again seconds later to swipe another Boyd header to safety, but after that neither side could find a second goal to kill off their opponents.

The result means Kilmarnock are yet to get off the mark in terms of victories this term and Boyd said: “We came alive in the second half but it wasn’t good enough. That is the last two or three weeks where it’s taken us 45 minutes to get going.

“The second half was a bit better but it is still not good enough and everyone in the dressing room knows that. Their ’keeper pulled off a couple of great saves but that was about it. As a team, we need to get back to the training ground on Monday and start addressing the problem.”

Boyd is struggling to put his finger on the reasons for their poor form as Killie prepare to face second-placed Celtic next week.

He added: “I haven’t a clue why we are not starting games well. We have started slowly and it isn’t until the second half when we start getting at teams.

“We probably should have more points than we have, but we don’t and now we need to start preparing properly for the Celtic game.”

Boyd also defended his challenge on Thistle defender Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, which earned him a yellow card that the home fans clearly felt should have been a red.

He said: “I knew I didn’t touch him and I said that to him when I got up but he was still limping about. It looked bad but I never touched him. That is part and parcel of football.”

Substitute Christie Elliott could have claimed the win for Partick when he hit the post and then passed up another couple of decent opportunities late on.

He said: “I had a few chances. I thought the ’keeper got a touch where he pushed it onto the post.

“He made a great save from my second one although, if I caught it right, it could have gone in. And the last one was just an unbelievable tackle.

“We are disappointed we didn’t win it. We have been the better team in every game we’ve played apart from Aberdeen. We have nothing to fear.”