The ex-Jags' player Martin Hardie came on for Gary Locke in the first half yesterday and made his first real impact a minute into the second period when his right-foot shot equalised for Killie. His debut goal for the Ayrshire side was not doubly pleasing for him as it was scored against his former side Partick Thistle......

On his goal..."It was obviously good to get the goal but it wasn't extra special,"

"I've got a lot of time and a lot of affection for Partick because I spent a lot of good years there.

"Hopefully, I can do the same for Kilmarnock as I did for Thistle. I was disappointed not to start the game but there's a lot of quality in our team.

"I'm a Kilmarnock player now so it's up to me to work my way into the side. I will just have to play it by ear, work hard in training and take it from there.

"We play at Motherwell away next week and I know a couple of our boys got injured so we'll just have to see how things progress."

On Thistle's 10 man performance... "Thistle's spirit never surprised me because I know the way Gerry Collins was going to set their stall out with a lot of hard work and commitment."

"That was the way we played at Partick when I was a player. The manager told us to get on the ball more at the interval and I thought we did that until we went 2-1 up.

"After that, for a 10-minute spell, we were all over the place, but apart from that I think the boys did well."

On Kris Boyd..."I think he could hack it in the Premiership."

"He's a big strong boy, he's got pace and has a good touch and that's what the English game is all about.

"But I think he has got a lot to learn and hopefully he can stay and learn it at Kilmarnock."