By Chris Tait

JOHN POTTER has revealed that a half-time rollicking from short-fused gaffer Gus MacPherson sparked St Mirren's first win of the season.

The Paisley boss was furious as Saints went in at the interval against Kilmarnock trailing to a Connor Sammon strike after just four minutes.

But captain Potter admitted MacPherson's pep talk shocked the players into life ... and produced a high-voltage second half display.

He said: "We didn't perform well in the first half.

"I think the conditions made it difficult and Kilmarnock played well.

"We sat down at half-time and the manager and Andy Millen went over a few things that went wrong.

"I think the goal early in the second half turned it around and after the second half we deserved the three points."

Saints banked the full house thanks to a double from Stephen McGinn.

The forward took his tally for the season to three with two opportunist strikes in the 48th and 69th minutes. But Potter admitted Kilmarnock missed the towering presence of in-form striker Kevin Kyle.

He had been expecting a bruising encounter against the man recalled to the Scotland squad for the crucial World Cup double-headers against Macedonia and Holland.

But a cartilage tear ruled him out and Killie boss Jim Jefferies expects him to be sidelined for at least three weeks. News of the player's absence only broke a few hours before kick-off on Saturday.

And that meant a quick tactical rethink for St Mirren, but Potter confessed that he was quite happy to dodge the task of shackling the forward.

"Obviously he is the main threat," he said. "So it was great for us for him not to be playing.

"He's the man in form and you can only play what you're up against and they've got other threats out there."

The Buddies captain explained that the players had been unaware of any injury worries concerning Kyle.

"We didn't know anything about it," added the defender. "We all thought he'd be playing. But it was just great for us that he wasn't playing and we got the three points."

Kyle's absence meant a recall for David Fernandez, but the striker was in no mood for celebration afterwards.

The Spaniard was a picture of frustration after seeing Killie surrender their one-goal lead and admitted the end result was a shock. He said: "It's really hard to take. I thought we were the better side by a mile. They have two shots and two goals and that sums up the game.

"I don't know the possession, but I think we destroyed them in the first half and we created chances."

With Kyle crocked, Fernandez and Sammon were paired together and the two strikers combined well for their opener.

Fernandez believes that their partnership shows that Kilmarnock can cope with the loss of their captain.

"Conor and I know each other pretty well," he said. "We played last year and we did well."