Kenny Miller pleased as Livingston get up and running with a point

Posted Sunday, August 12, 2018 by PA

Livingston player-manager Kenny Miller insists his side more than deserved their first top-fight point in 12 years after battling to a goalless draw with Kilmarnock.

It was an uninspiring contest of few chances although Miller was delighted that his Ladbrokes Premiership newcomers got off and running in the league with a valuable share of the spoils.

The Lions started brightly but the visitors created the best chance of the game in the 29th minute when Chris Burke saw an effort come back off the post.

The second half was again bereft of goal-mouth action but Miller was happy with a point following last weekend’s 3-1 defeat a reigning champions Celtic.

He said: “That has got to give our lads belief, I felt in the first half we were the better team, controlled it for long spells.

“They’ve got threats, Chris Burke, Jordan Jones and Kris Boyd, a goal-getter, but I felt we kept them quiet.

“It was maybe more 50/50 in the second half, I felt we were more than competitive and that’s got to give our lads a real belief that we can go and be really competitive this season.

“I’m really pleased for the boys, I felt we more than held our own and a draw was the least we deserved.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of players for my first managerial job.

“It is a well-earned point and something for the boys to build on. Hopefully it can give them real belief. I think we will be more than competitive this season.”

Livingston’s new artificial pitch made its debut and despite appearing soft underfoot, Miller hopes his players can adapt to the surface.

He added: “It is just a new surface and I’m told it will take three or four weeks to bed in.”

Kilmarnock manager Steve Clark, meanwhile, had no qualms about how the game panned out.

He said: “It was a hard-earned point. We knew it would be difficult coming here with it being Livingston’s first game back at home.

“They started well and put us on the back foot and we put ourselves on the back foot by not dealing with it better at that stage.

“But we came through it and had the best chance of the first half when Chris Burke hit the post, we controlled the game better, but didn’t really threaten.”