St Mirren 3 - 0 Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels left Paisley last night convinced that the fates had conspired against his players and himself.

The Irishman believed that his side had been robbed of their just deserts by dilatory defending and, more importantly, incompetent officials, claiming that two of the three goals his side had conceded should not have been allowed to stand.

After a wary start, Kilmarnock fashioned the first opening of the afternoon in the ninth minute. Gary Harkins supplied Gary Hay, whose first-time through ball sent Paul Heffernan free, Saints keeper Craig Samson’s reflexes proving equal to his angled drive.

Heffernan’s confidence is understandably high, however, and three minutes later he slalomed past three opponents before firing in a 20-yarder which Samson saved at full stretch.

The hosts were not exactly idle, though, and Steven Thompson went close with a flashing header from David van Zanten’s cross.

A very tight offside decision by assistant-referee Graeme Leslie denied Kilmarnock the breakthrough in the 26th minute after Heffernan had provided a cool finish to Garry Hay’s through ball.

Five minutes later the breakthrough arrived at the other end when Jeroen Tesselaar’s perfectly-judged cross was headed home from close range by Paul McGowan.

Saints demanded a penalty when Gary Teale was sent sprawling by a challenge from Mohamadou Sissoko but referee Stephen Finnie ignored their claims.

They were awarded one on the stroke of half-time, however. When Steven Thomson’s cross struck Zdenek Kroca on the hand it seemed obvious there was no way the big Czech could have avoided making contact with the ball.

Mr Finnie waved play on but his assistant, Stephen Allan, insisted that a penalty should be awarded. McGowan converted it and the half ended immediately afterwards, with a furious Shiels and his players arguing with the officials.

“I’m not allowed to be honest because if you go too near honesty you get yourself and your club into trouble,” said the manager. “At half-time I had anger inside me, to be perfectly honest but I’m not going to criticise people because I can’t.

“I looked at [Allan] in an inquisitive manner because I was conscious of the fact that they’re not allowed to speak. I didn’t say one word: I just gave him this curious look in an attempt to get a response or an explanation. The thing that bemused me most was that the referee was in a very good position and he didn’t give it. Everyone in the ground – unless they were wearing tinted glasses – knew that [Kroca’s] hand was at his side.”

Killie, to their credit, continued to battle away and Samson acrobatically turned over a full-blooded drive from 35 yards by Manuel Pascali. Then, with just seven minutes remaining, Kroca smacked a header from James Dayton’s corner against Samson’s crossbar. Galvanised by that escape, the home side raced to the other side of the field and secured the points with another controversial goal.

Substitute Nigel Hasselbaink was the scorer but the visitors insisted that he had pushed Sissoko before heading home David van Zanten’s cross and Bell was cautioned for dissent.

There was still time for the luckless Kroca to hit the bar with another header from another Dayton corner before the final whistle brought the curtain down on a desperately disappointing day for the Ayrshire club.

St Mirren manager Danny Lennon was delighted with the result. “We’ve shown a unity and also shown that we can roll up our sleeves and mix it,” he said.