KRIS BOYD netted his first goal of 2019 as Killie cruised to a very comfortable win against ten-man St Johnstone, who had Jason Kerr sent off when the damage had already been done.

The Ayrshire club are battling it out for a European spot and they eased into the top six fixture split with a victory that could and should have yielded more goals than just Boyd's penalty, which followed a first half own goal from Chris Kane.

Indeed, after Kerr had been shown a second yellow card, if it wasn't for Saints keeper Zander Clark, the damage could have been very bad indeed for the Perth side, who were timid from the start yesterday at Rugby Park.

The Ayrshire side's manager, Steve Clarke, was full of praise for veteran striker Boyd, who enjoyed his recall yesterday.

He said: "It was a dominant performance from start to finish and it was a well deserved three points.

"Kris Boyd is one of a number of players who have had to be really patient this season, but sometimes when you are a goal scorer and you lose the chance to play, you lose that little rhythm so it was nice to see him get on the scoresheet albeit with a penalty.

"He’s a key part of what we here and it was important for him to get that goal."

Killie should have taken a fifth minute lead when Chris Burke floated a delightful, chipped cross straight on to captain Kris Boyd's head, but the veteran striker nodded against the bar with Zander Clark well beaten.

And it came as no surprise when Killie took a slightly bizarre opening goal in the 17th minute when another dangerous Rory McKenzie corner was turned into his own goal by Kane, under pressure from Gary Dicker. Kane didn't know much about it and neither did his bemused keeper Clark.

It took a fine save from Clark to prevent the home side doubling their advantage four minutes before the interval when McKenzie unleashed a long range effort which the keeper tipped over the bar.

The respite was very short lived though when ref Bobby Madden awarded a penalty two minutes later when Boyd's header from an inviting Chris Burke cross clearly struck the hand of Kerr, who was also booked. The 35-year-old easily converted from the spot.

Wright remarkably opted to use all three subs at half time which was a measure of his disappointment of his team's first half display. Danny Swanson, Liam Gordon and Blair Alston replaced Michael O'Halloran, Scott Tanser and Callum Hendry.

Boyd had the ball in the net again 11 minutes after the restart, but from an offside position, with Saints' three subs not appearing to be making much of an impact. And the visitors' task was made considerably more difficult when Kerr was shown a second yellow card for holding back McKenzie, who has zipped past him on the wing.

From then on, it was damage limitation for the Perth side, who were content with not suffering any more and they saved from a real hammering by keeper Clark who made save after save as Killie enjoyed a shooting practice exercise against them.

Manager Wright, who also revealed they are resigned to losing captain Joe Shaughnessy next season after contract talks broke down, had no complaints about the outcome.

He said: "It was Jekyll and Hyde from Wednesday night’s performance to this. We had no energy about us. They dominated from the first whistle and we didn’t impose ourselves on the game. There was a lack of tempo, energy and competitiveness about our play and we got what we deserved."