Clarke hopes Kilmarnock’s performance, not floodlights, is in the spotlight

Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke says he hopes the Rugby Park lights don’t detract from a “terrific” display that saw his side beat Hibernian to move second in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

The Ayrshire side’s stadium was plunged into darkness on two separate occasions during a stop-start second half on an afternoon that saw Eamonn Brophy and Greg Stewart strike to seal a 3-0 win.

The former scored a double as Clarke’s side leapfrogged both Hearts and Rangers to move a massive nine points ahead of their battered and bruised Leith opponents.

And the Killie boss says he hopes the power failings at Rugby Park do not take anything away from his side’s vibrant display.

Clarke said: “Hopefully the performance will get more of the headlines than the lights because I thought we were terrific today, from start to finish.”

“I think there would have been a problem if the lights had gone off for a third time.

“When they go off you have to let the system cool and then trip them back in. I don’t think the referee would have let them on again so the last 25 minutes were a little more nervous than usual.”

Kilmarnock found themselves in a commanding position prior to the outages, when the returning Brophy struck twice in a vibrant first-half display.

The striker had missed each of his side’s last four matches due to injury but struck with two clinical finishes – one from open play and one from the penalty spot.

Clarke added: “It’s always good when you get players back from injury.

“We know Eamonn gives us a little bit more mobility up front than Kris (Boyd). Kris did a great job for us though and helped us pick up four points in big away games when he was in the team.

“At this stage of the season it’s all about using your squad to its maximum. You saw that today. Rory McKenzie came in today after a spell out, ran himself into the ground and then at the right time Chris Burke came on and added that bit of quality that helped us get the third goal.”

Hibernian assistant Garry Parker was sent to face the media with manager Neil Lennon likely calming down after a torrid display from his side.

The Hibs boss had made two changes at half-time and Parker was honest in his assessment of the situation.

He said: “We could have taken any of the players off at half-time and they couldn’t have complained. It got slightly better after that but it still wasn’t good enough.

“We got in behind them a couple of times in the second half but we failed to pick out the right pass. That’s been happening for four or five weeks now.

“We came here to try and not lose and they scored straight away, so the game plan went out of the window.

“We know what the pitch is like but some of the players have got to look at themselves and do better.”