St Mirren: Tommy Craig urges supporters to stick with Buddies

St Mirren manager Tommy Craig and Kilmarnock boss Allan Johnston, right

St Mirren manager Tommy Craig has called on the club's fans to back his team after they suffered their fifth league defeat on the bounce.

A 2-1 loss at Kilmarnock leaves the Buddies still searching for their first point of the Premiership season.

"The fans are disappointed, angry and frustrated - the same as me," Craig told BBC Scotland.

"I would just ask them to stick together as fans and don't lean towards criticising the players too much."

Craig added: "I had a word with the players and told them it's a 'we' and an 'us' situation, it's not an 'I' or a 'me' situation.

"I don't want anyone to be feeling sorry for themselves. We're in this run due to our own efforts and we've got to double those efforts to try to get ourselves back up the table.

"I might be able to tinker with some of the positions, but the players who are on show at the moment are the players who are going to see this through."

Killie hit the front through Robbie Muirhead before Adam Drury levelled, but Mark Connolly's header consigned Craig's charges to another defeat.

"We got ourselves into the position where we had one point on the board," Craig said.

"But sloppy defending caused us to lose the second goal, which is all the more galling considering how hard we worked to get back into the game.

"Prior to the equaliser, we had a grip of the game and, when we got the goal, I thought we'd go on and get the winner.

"But I thought 'if we don't lose, at least it's a step forward'.

"The players have done everything I asked of them except keep the ball out of the net for that second goal."

Killie boss Allan Johnston highlighted the impact of substitute Muirhead.

"Robbie came on and made a massive difference with his energy and you saw the quality he has with the way he took his goal," Johnston told BBC Scotland.

"Even when the equaliser went in, the boys showed a lot of belief and confidence, kept on going and were always confident of coming back and winning the game."