Kilmarnock moved up to fourth in the table after a 2-1 win over St Johnstone that became more nervous than it needed to be.
Teenager David Watson netted a cracking early opener before Marley Watkins added a second to give Kilmarnock a firm grip of the game. Had Kyle Vassell had his shooting boots on the game would have been over before St Johnstone were spooked into life.
As it was they were able to pull one back when substitute Nicky Clark returned after a six-week lay-off to convert Matt Smith’s free-kick and Rugby Park tensed as the Perthshire side flirted with a leveller.
The home side’s patience too was tested when St Johnstone goalkeeper was shown only a yellow after he had hauled down Vassell just outside his box. With Watkins waiting in the box for the ball, Kilmarnock were irked at what they felt was the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity.
“I thought it was maybe a red-card offence with the keeper,” said McInnes.
“If Kyle Vassell isn’t brought down, he isn’t running towards the touchline as the fourth official indicated. His left foot is taking it into the box.
“If a goalkeeper is 22 yards out of his goal and you have a striker with the ball running into the box and another supporting striker, that has to be an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.
“I’m surprised the decision wasn’t more than it was.”
There was much for McInnes to be pleased about, more notably the continued goalscoring contribution from Watson. The 18-year-old netted a fabulous half-volley from the edge of the box to get Killie up and running with McInnes applauding his recent eye for goal as Kilmarnock have taken 10 points from a possible 12 across their last four games.
“That’s three goals now from David Watson, against Aberdeen, Celtic and now St Johnstone,” he said. “We didn’t have a central midfielder score a single goal for us last season and now we have Lyons and Watson on three.
“When a young player gets these goals, I think it makes him hungry to score more.” Levein admitted he was shellshocked as he watched the opening 20 minutes play out. It is back-to-back defeats for him now although he is confident that a fully fit Clark, who netted after barely coming off the bench, could be pivotal for the Perthshire side going forward.
“He’s a good player,” he said. “Our strikers are that little bit different. When you have one who knows the league and what he needs to be good at to get goals and assists in this league, they are worth their weight in gold.
“He’s the only one we have of that type. We have other guys who can run and do the rest of it but there’s a real art to putting the ball in the back of the net as we saw today.”
