Kilmarnock came from behind against Hamilton to earn their first win of the season at the Superseal Stadium.

A first-half strike by Louis Longridge had Hamilton seemingly cruising towards three points, but two goals in four second-half minutes from Killie turned the game on its head.

First, Kris Boyd headed home a Jordan Jones cross to level things up with his 100th goal for the club, before substitute Souleymane Coulibaly hit a stunner to complete an unlikely Killie comeback.

The visitors had the first chance of the afternoon as Rory McKenzie picked out a forceful Martin Smith run inside the Hamilton area. He cut the ball back for Jones who was crowded out, but the ball broke perfectly for Boyd who uncharacteristically ballooned over from six yards. That was as good as it got in the first-half for the visitors though.

Dougie Imrie had a sight of goal moments later at the other end, but his shot on the run was also well over.

The game then hit a prolonged lull before a burst of action from Hamilton just before the half hour saw them take the lead.

Ali Crawford played a through ball for Alex D’Acol to latch onto. The striker took too long to sort out his feet and his shot was blocked, but Greg Docherty was alert to pick up the scraps and feed the ball to Longridge on the left of the area.

The wide-man took a touch to set himself before firing a low left-foot effort through Jamie MacDonald at his near post. It was a powerful strike, but by MacDonald’s own high standards he would have been disappointed that he let it through into his net.

Kilmarnock boss Lee Clark was serving a touchline ban, so he wasn’t able to go into the dressing room at half-time. It was left to assistant Lee McCulloch to try to get more from a Killie side who had been woeful in the opening period.

It was still Hamilton who were looking the more dangerous after the restart though, with Dougie Imrie’s clever cross picking out Crawford at the back post to meet the ball on the volley and force a decent save from MacDonald.

Boyd was feeding off scraps up front on his own with little success, so it was no surprise to see Coulibaly coming on to lend a hand in place of George Green.

The move did little to alter the course of play initially though, as quick-thinking by Hamilton goalkeeper Remi Matthews sent Imrie scampering all the way to the Killie by-line, and Greg Docherty should have done better than tamely side-foot at MacDonald from the wide-man’s cutback.

They were made to pay for that miss and their overall failure to make the most of their dominance as Boyd showed all of his old predatory instincts to level with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Left winger Jones, who had been a bright spark for the visitors all afternoon, beat Darren Lyon before hanging up the sort of inviting ball that Boyd has been gobbling up for over a decade. The striker duly obliged, burying a header past Matthews from six yards.

Incredibly, Killie were ahead a few minutes later, as a wonderful piece of play from Coulibaly lit up the Superseal Stadium.

Greg Taylor helped the ball on to the Killie super-sub on the edge of the area, and he dipped a shoulder to send two Accies defenders the wrong way before curling a sumptuous right-foot effort into the opposite top-corner. It was a wonderful strike, and full vindication of the Kilmarnock management team’s decision to throw on the second striker.

Accies own substitute, striker Richard Roy, should have levelled things up moments after coming on as he found himself clean through, but with an age to pick his spot he made a poor connection to allow MacDonald to save with his foot.

Accies almost did earn a point at the death, but Grant Gillespie’s dipping free-kick cannoned back off the frame of the goal.

HAMILTON: Matthews; Lyon, Devlin, Sarris, Gillespie; Donati, Docherty; Longridge, Crawford, Imrie (Roy, 84’); D’Acol (Brophy, 70’).

Scorers: Longridge (26’)

Booked: Gillespie (75’)

KILMARNOCK: MacDonald; Taylor, Addison, Boyle, S.Smith; Dicker; Green (Coulibaly, 54’), McKenzie, M.Smith (McFadzean, 69’) Jones (Waddington, 90’); Boyd.

Booked: Green (51’), Boyle (51’), McKenzie (90’)

Scorers: Boyd (69’), Coulibaly (73’)

Man of the match: Jordan Jones (Kilmarnock)

Referee: Steven MacLean

Attendance: 2228