Half-time words help Kilmarnock past St Johnstone

Calderwood's men fought back from a Peter MacDonald opener to go in level at the break, thanks to a strike from Chris Maguire, and then levelled again through Garry Hay after Graham Gartland's header had give Saints the edge.

Their persistence finally paid off when Kevin Kyle sent home a bullet header of his own to ensure all three points stayed at Rugby Park.

Kille are now undefeated in their last eight matches and have won their last four on the bounce but Calderwood believes there is still room for improvement.

He said: "I was pleased with the result and the character that they showed against a very good St Johnstone side but I was very disappointed with the first half.

"They were the better team in the first 45 minutes and caused us a lot of problems, I thought that we were fortunate to get the goal just before half time to be honest.

"There were a few harsh words at half time but they didn't really seem to help at the beginning of the second half but we got there in the end. We won the game without being at our best and we seem to be carrying that wee bit of luck at the moment. But the character that we are showing just now has been great, coming back from twice being behind in a massive game for us, says a lot about us."

Kilmarnock's Maguire was in scintillating form throughout the 90 minutes and almost made an early breakthrough when he fired in a shot on the turn which looped towards Graeme Smith's goal, only for the Saints keeper to somehow get across to push the ball away with one hand.

Kyle then found himself in space just on the six yard line but could only send his shot high over the crossbar before Hay sent an effort just inches past Smith's top right-hand corner. But nine minutes before the break it was the Saints who took the lead, although they lost their goalscorer in the process, MacDonald turning two defenders to slot home from a Dave Mackay cross and then limping off just a matter of seconds later.

That goal gave the visitors a real shot in the arm and Kenny Deuchar, who had come on to replace MacDonald, almost added another with one of his first touches as he stabbed the ball past Killie keeper Cammy Bell, only for Jamie Hamill to get back to hoof the ball clear of the goal-line.

However, a free-kick brought Killie level before the break after three Saints players failed to clear the danger and the ball fell straight to Maguire who lashed it high into the net behind Smith. The Rugby Park side fell behind shortly after the restart though, with the simplest of goals. Graham Gartland raced up the field to head home Danny Grainger's free-kick from the right-hand side of the box.

However, Killie hit back for the second time in the match and again Maguire was involved, this time with a clever free-kick that saw him feed Hay to slot the ball home on the angle.

Their comeback was complete when Kyle got on the end of a cross from Mehdi Taouil to bullet home a header from close range.

In the dying seconds Saints could have snatched the equaliser that their play had deserved but sub Liam Craig's free-kick fizzed just inches wide of Bell's net.

Gutted Saints striker Deuchar said: "I thought that at 2-1 up we would maybe go on to kill the game and that we wouldn't make the same mistakes that we did in the first half. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way."

Manager Derek McInnes felt his side had deserved to take more from the match and revealed that scorer MacDonald could be out for the next few weeks with cartilage damage sustained scoring the opener.

He knows his side will have to pick themselves in time for Wednesday night's game against Hibs and said: "

I thought that, for most of the game, for what's it's worth now, we were the better team and we played a lot of good stuff.

"But ultimately, to lose three goals away from home is a big ask for any team to come back and Kilmarnock have got some array of talent in forward areas."