"He's one of a number of players who have had to be patient this season", Clarke said.

"Earlier this season we had Greg Stewart and Eamonn Brophy doing good things. In January we brought Conor McAleny and Kris has had to be patient.

"Sometimes when you're a goalscorer and you're not getting the chance to play you lose that little rhythm, so it was nice to see him get on the scoresheet.

"He's a key part of what we do here, so it was really pleasing to see him get that goal."

Clarke also spoke glowingly of his team's back line, who have kept five clean sheets in their last six matches.

"We work on our defensive solidity," said the Killie boss. "We've kept a lot of clean sheets throughout the season.

"My back four and goalkeeper are all good players but we defend well as a team. I always believe that if you defend well you've got a great chance of winning games.

"It was a good afternoon and three good points. We were a little bit wasteful in the second half and should have had more goals but that's the only thing that I would have been disappointed with.

"It was a dominant performance from start to finish and a well-deserved three points."

Saints boss Tommy Wright cut a far less content figure, clearly irked by the start his side made to the game.

Wright made all three substitutions at half-time but admits he did not see much of a difference after the break.

"We didn't start well against a good side and a side who have a lot to play for. It was Jekyll and Hyde from Wednesday night's performance (2-0 win over Dundee) to this. We had no energy about us.

"They dominated from the first whistle and we didn't help ourselves because we didn't pass the ball well enough.

"We didn't play anywhere near where we could have and it was a totally different performance from Wednesday night. There was a lack of tempo, energy and competitiveness about our play and we got what we deserved."

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