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Neil McCann gives brutal Kilmarnock assessment after St Johnstone loss but 'romantic' Valakari enjoys chaos Seven goal thriller at McDiarmid Park sees Perth Saints return to Scottish Premiership with deserved three points. Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann pulled no punches in his post match interview following their 4-3 defeat to St Johnstone in their Scottish Premiership opener. The Killie gaffer admitted they deserved nothing from the match and that the hosts were the better side. Despite scoring three goals away from home the former Rangers coach was not for taking any positives out of their performance. He said: “St Johnstone were better than us out there, we didn’t deserve anything. We were really poor. We are much better than that. We somehow got to 3-2 up. I don’t think we played enough good football to even merit that. Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann pulls no punches after defeat to St Johnstone “When you get 3-2 up away from home, you shouldn’t lose from that. The awarding of the free-kick, I completely disagree with it. I’ve asked John [Beaton, referee] why he gave it. I thought Jamie Brandon won the ball and it’s two players going in and he gets a toe poke and there’s a coming together. Afterwards, we don’t deal with the free kick and were punished. The fourth was a ridiculous goal to lose. We let ourselves down, the club down, the fans down. “They [St Johnstone} have come up from the Championship playing good football under Simo and deserved to win the game. My job is to look over where we went wrong and there’s a lot to look at to find improvements and put that right before Celtic next Sunday. “We just weren’t at it. I probably got a few things wrong so I’ll need to look at my own performance. I will pore over what I did with the team tactically.” ‘Romantic’ Simo Valakari praises ‘beautiful match’ as St Johnstone return to Premiership with a win His reaction was in sharp contrast to Saints’ gaffer Simo Valakari who described the game as a ‘beautiful match’ and himself as a ‘football romantic’. The Finn was thrilled to return to the top flight and take all three points on the day they raised the Scottish Championship winners’ flag. He said: “That’s what football is all about – all about emotions and suffering in parts of the game. The Premiership is different, there was a lot of talk about that. “We were up against a good, well coached team. Our boys took control from the start, pushed our opponent back and scored a good goal. “We were disappointed to go in 1-1 at half-time and it was a test after we went from 2-1 up to 3-2 down very quickly. That was the test of character. “Would be this team who plays nice football in the Premiership but concedes goals? How the players pushed until the end was very good. We won’t get carried away – we know how thin the lines are. All we have from this match is three points. We know there are a lot of things we need to improve but as a football fan and a football romantic, it was a beautiful match. We were tested last season but we know the level is different here. “I never doubted the character of my players. They will not be thinking it will be like this every week.” Valakari’s Saints will be on the road in round two as they head to Paisley to take on St Mirren. Meanwhile, things certainly don’t get easier for Neil McCann and Kilmarnock as they welcome reigning champions Celtic to Rugby Park for their first home match of the 2026/27 league season. Your next football read: Chaos reigns on St Johnstone's Premiership return as Kilmarnock stunned in seven goal thriller Comments Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.