Kilmarnock: Kris Boyd lauds Steve Clarke's impact since taking charge

Kris Boyd scored his sixth goal of the season at Murrayfield

Striker Kris Boyd has praised the impact of boss Steve Clarke following Kilmarnock's recent resurgence.

The Ayrshire side beat Hearts 2-1 at Murrayfield on Sunday to record the first win of Clarke's reign.

He had previously overseen draws away to Rangers and Celtic and a defeat by Hibernian.

• Killie's Clarke talks up Scots quality

• 'Let passion shine through for Scotland's game'

"The impact the manager has had, it's been night and day," Boyd, 34, told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "Over the last month, it has totally changed."

Clarke, 54, had spells as an assistant before taking charge of West Brom and then Reading, with the Killie post his first managerial job in his Scottish homeland.

Boyd says Killie "have worked on possession constantly" since Clarke took over

"He's crystal clear on what he wants," explained Boyd. "The meetings are short and sharp. He gets his points across.

"From the first minute you start training, the ball's down and playing and you can see that. We are playing good football.

"It doesn't just happen by luck. From the minute he's come in the door, we have worked on possession constantly.

"We're organised. We're hard to break down and I think added to the way the manager wants to play, we'll sit in and hit teams on the counter attack. Yesterday, we were excellent."

Boyd is also glad to see several of his team-mates flourishing again.

"It shows you how far we've come inside four, five weeks," Boyd said. "The turnaround since the manager came in - you've players who weren't even on the bench sometimes who are performing.

"Stephen O'Donnell, he started well last year at Luton and found himself out the team. Gordon Greer only played 21 games with Blackburn; Kirk Broadfoot three games after a back operation; Stuart Findlay with Newcastle under-23s.

"Chris Burke signed with Ross County in September [2016] and played six games. Alan Power started [last] season with Lincoln and found himself out the team. These are all guys that started the other day there.

"When you've not been playing football, it'll take you a good couple of months to get back into it and I think we're now seeing that - added to what Steve Clarke has brought to Kilmarnock."