Clarke credits Killie’s character

Posted Sunday, September 30, 2018 by PA

Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke praised his side’s battling qualities as they fought back to beat Motherwell 3-1 and move up to third in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

The Ayrshire side went behind to an early Curtis Main strike but roared back in front of over 5,000 at Rugby Park to record a second successive comeback win.

The result sees Clarke’s men move into third with both Rangers and Livingston not playing until Sunday, and the Killie boss was understandably delighted with his side’s resolve once again.

“I’d rather not go behind,” he joked. “We’ve shown a good resilience ever since I’ve been at the club. We actually speak a lot about going behind. It’s part of football and you have to learn to deal with adversity.

“If you go behind and then suddenly think that you can’t win the game then what’s the point in playing?”

Just a week ago, the Ayrshire side battled back against champions Celtic to earn an unlikely win. Chris Burke netted the equaliser that day and it was a case of deja vu as he levelled matters against the Steelmen too.

Greg Stewart and Eamonn Brophy netted the other two goals for the rampant hosts as Killie recorded their third win from four home league matches so far this term.

“It was always going to be difficult going behind against Motherwell,” Clarke continued. “They get a lot of bodies behind the ball and make it difficult for you.

“But thankfully we managed to find a way back into the game and then controlled it in the second half.

“We’ve got a good group of players here. They’ve got great belief and they never know when they’re beaten. We’ve added a few new boys to the group this year and they seem to have the same mentality so that’s a real positive.”

Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson bemoaned his side’s individual errors in the defeat – their fourth on the spin.

Goalscorer Main also missed a penalty in what proved a real turning point bu Robinson was not about to single out the striker for blame.

“People may only see the penalty miss but our defending for some of the goals was just as bad for me,” he said. “We lost our runners for the second and third goals and that’s not good enough.

“We created chances in the first half. We were a hard team to play against and had lots of energy. But at the moment, we’re lacking confidence so it’s always going to be difficult when you go behind.

“The only way to turn this around is to work harder and cut out the individual errors.”