Dundee Utd 1
Partick Th 0
League (Premiership)

Manager's Programme Notes

On the heels of two derby wins over Dundee, we finished off a very tough week with three derbies in six days by defeating St Johnstone. It wasn't the prettiest of games, rather kick-and-rush at times. But what little bits of quality were on view came from ourselves and we got the two a bottle against St Johnstone and you have to earn anything vou take from them. which we cause us any problems. In the areas in which they have hurt us previously, I think we've strengthened. Our centre defensive pairing of Jarek Fojut and Callum Morris deserves special praise for that, but so do the midfield duo of Chris Erskine and Paul Paton, players who followed me to Tannadice from Partick Thistle. Whilst I always expect 'Squidy' to score, that is not the case with Pates as it isn't really his forte. All credit to him though, he took a good touch with his left foot to steer the ball in off the post, and I was delighted for him. All in all, it was a good three points although I'd be the first to admit the performance could have been better. But, crucially, we won in the end not just to stay top of the table, but to lead by two clear points.

Unfortunately, despite going to Rugby Park on a high, things went badly awry and we could have no complaints at going down after a particularly disappointing display. What was most frustrating was that we went into the game as league leaders, but failed to handle the pressure that brings with it. We were beaten by opponents who showed a greater desire and willingness to chase seemingly lost causes and work hard for the team. So credit to Kilmarnock, they played confidently and you can see why they've done well at home: we were beaten by the better team. Just for the record, there is no way that I'm going to lay the blame on the artificial surface. It doesn't matter what kind of surface you are playing on, because both sides are playing on it. The players should be confident in their ability and wanting to go and express themselves properly. Killie managed to get their full-backs forward at times, but we didn't. What is annoying is that I know my players are better than that and so far this season they've been up to everything that's been asked of them. The disappointing thing is that we've had to wait two weeks to get the defeat out of our system. Patrick Thistle's visit this afternoon will provide a real test of character and there's absolutely no doubt that we need to do a lot better than we did at Kilmarnock, especially asArchibald's team have made significant progress this season.