Kilmarnock manager Allan Johnston was delighted with his side’s performance in the 2-1 win against Ross County at Global Energy Stadium.
The Killie boss felt his side fully deserved the three points and said: “We controlled large parts of the game and it was maybe only in the last five or 10 minutes they came into the game after the goal.
“Other than that, I thought we were totally in control and unlucky not to score a few more.”
He added: “That’s four points away from home. It was important we started the season well.
“We had a hard game against Aberdeen in midweek and put in another good performance. Aberdeen’s quality showed in the end with clinical finishing.
“But we can take a lot of heart from the performance today.”
Johnston is looking to build on the win and believes new signing Michael Ngoo can be a big hit at the club.
He explained: “We’ve got more to come. That was Michael Ngoo’s first match. He has hardly played in pre-season but he was excellent, a handful. You can see he is going to be a big player for us this year.”
Johnston was especially pleased with the performance of 20-year-old Craig Slater – his main concern is holding on to the youngster.
He said: “For me, young Craig Slater stole the show with some of his passing. With the range of passing he showed today you can see he is not going to be here with Kilmarnock for very long.
“You’ve got to be concerned we might lose him. You look at his free-kick against Dundee.
“Last year, I was saying the same – he is a top young player. Hopefully not before the window shuts.”
County boss Derek Adams rued missed chances early on. He said: “We might have scored before they did – but that’s been the story of our season so far.
“We’ve had good chances to score and controlled the first 35 minutes when I felt we were the better side.
“But we never scored in that time and then they scored a goal I felt we probably should have stopped.
“For the second one as well, we could have stopped it.”
He added: “In the second half at times we lacked the kind of urgency needed, especially in the last 10 minutes when we were pressuring them but couldn’t find a way through to get that equaliser.
“At the start of the game, we probably didn’t deserve to go behind. We played well and caused Kilmarnock problems. They’ve scored a goal out of nothing. That’s what’s been happening for us.”
ends