Kenny Shiels believes Kilmarnock deserved victory against Celtic

Sheils believes Kilmarnock's results don't match their performances this season

Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels is adamant his side deserved to beat Celtic at Rugby Park after relinquishing a three goal lead.

The Rugby Park side were 3-0 up with 20 minutes left before Celtic launched an incredible comeback.

But Shiels believes his side were dominant throughout the match.

"We should have got a result today and I think Celtic would admit that themselves," Shiels told Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland.

"They got three goals, but there wasn't a lot of pressure apart from that."

Goals from Dean Shiels, Paul Heffernan and James Fowler had put Kilmarnock 3-0 up at half-time, but Celtic scored three times in the space of seven minutes to earn a share of the points.

A brace from Anthony Stokes and a header from Charlie Mulgrew levelled the scoreline with ten minutes remaining, but Shiels thought his team regained momentum despite Celtic's late comeback.

"I was surprised to be 3-0 up against Celtic, but I don't think it had a psychological effect on our players," he told Sportsound.

"When it was 3-1 and then immediately 3-2 you could see the momentum swing, but Celtic didn't dominate the ball after that. It's not as if there was incessant pressure from Celtic and we were on the ropes. Heffernan should have won it for us three times before the end of the game."

The result ends a run of three straight defeats for Shiels' side, but the Kilmarnock manager believes his side have been unlucky not to take more from impressive performances in the first quarter of the season.

"We've played 11 league games and it is fair to say the performances our lads have put in have been tremendous," he added.

"We've played like that in every game, but because it is Celtic and we get a wee bit of a rub and go three goals up, people will congratulate us on our performance. But we played like that against St Mirren and St Johnstone and Rangers.

"We could be sitting in the top three, we're just not getting the rub."