Fraser Taylor celebratesSNS

Fraser Taylor scored his first Premiership goal at Rugby Park

At a glance

  • Taylor's early goal continues St Mirren's fine early season run

  • Kilmarnock concede 14th goal in opening four league games

  • St Mirren win in league at Rugby Park for first time since 2013

Watch Kilmarnock v St Mirren highlights

03/09/26

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Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Neil McCann was again left to rue Kilmarnock's defensive frailties as a home defeat by St Mirren left them without a point from their opening four Scottish Premiership matches of the campaign.

The Rugby Park side were 1-0 down within four minutes as St Mirren passed through them before the ball was shunted to Fraser Taylor, who sidefooted it into the bottom corner.

McCann, who cut a furious figure while standing sodden on the touchline, is now under immense pressure after an abject start to the season.

Kilmarnock are the only side that have failed to pick up a point after four rounds of fixtures in the league, conceding 14 goals in that time.

And they could have shipped more on a soaking night in Ayrshire, as St Mirren hit a post through a deflected Calvin Ramsay effort and squandered a handful of further chances.

It would transpire they didn't need a second goal as they made it three wins from four under rookie manager Craig McLeish, and they remain second in the table.

St Mirren analysis: Faith in McLeish repaid early on

Yes, we're only four games into the season. Yes, McLeish and his men won't be getting carried away by any means.

But that doesn't mean that the 10 points they've picked up in the opening four games won't be vital at the end of the season.

This was a team that many wrote off before a ball was kicked. McLeish was viewed as the cheap option, a newbie manager who had barely kept them up last season.

Many of those doubters may be won over now. He's imprinted a clear style on his side - something veteran managers have struggled to do - and got them playing some glorious football.

Declan John's goal against Motherwell on Sunday was no fluke. On a few occasions against Kilmarnock, St Mirren threatened to score a few from the same mould.

Between the boxes, they are a superb watch. They just need to find a cutting edge in the box.

McLeish's recruitment can be lauded, too. Calvin Ramsay looks a cut above at right-back as, by his own admission, he tries to kickstart his career. Ismael Kabia on the left is a handful, while Paul Nsio is a very smart addition in midfield.

It remains to be seen whether they can remain unbeaten this weekend, as they host Celtic on Saturday.

Momentum FTOpta

Kilmarnock analysis: Porous defence poses problems

Only Dundee United come close to Kilmarnock's record of goals conceded (10) and they have played a game more.

Pre-match, McCann spoke of his players having belief, of his side having a plan. But, as the old adage goes, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

And Kilmarnock keep getting punched in the face, and early. In their past five games, they've conceded in the 16th minute or earlier on every occasion.

Here, it was after just 222 seconds. Short of four minutes.

That was after a change of shape, with McCann moving to three at the back in an attempt to shore up the defence.

At half-time, three changes were made and the formation reverted to four at the back. The experiment had failed.

In attack, they actually had a similar number of chances to St Mirren, and more shots on target, but Jacob Chapman only had one real save to make - a trundler from distance thanks to Michael Schjonning-Larsen.

They need a decent result, and quickly. Can they get it at Pittodrie on Saturday?

What they said

McCann speaking after his side's fourth consecutive defeat

Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann: "You can see the boys are lacking a wee bit of confidence just now. Losing an early goal has been an Achilles heel.

"It's just trying to get them to understand there's a lot of time left in the game and I felt they got themselves back into the match. We dominated the second half without looking like we were going to get back to our best."

St Mirren manager Craig McLeish: "I want to play the way we did in the first half for 90 minutes. I know that's probably not realistic. There'll be times we have to suffer without the ball. We had to do that in the second half but we were solid defensively.

"The first half was great. It's what we want it to look like, played with real quality but disappointed we didn't get a goal to follow the first one."

Player of the match

F. Taylor
8.02
21 M. Schjønning-Larsen
3.65
4 C. McCarthy
3.59
18 T. Lowery
3.52
29 D. Daniëls
3.41
14 G. Stanger
3.41
1 M. Stryjek
3.29
7 R. McKenzie
3.26
9 J. Hugill
3.24
11 G. Kiltie
3.16
2 J. Brandon
3.02
5 M. O'Hara
2.94
15 J. Yfeko
2.92
8 E. Ring
2.84
49 B. Rice
2.78
36 A. Tshibola
2.78
10 T. John-Jules
2.63
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