What were your thoughts on the game? 

We played really well. In the first half there was good energy in the team but I thought we dropped off second half. It's clear that maybe Ryan, Jack and Nico... it took a lot out of them and they’ve not had much football of late. I thought when John Lundstram came on, we got it back again because we started the second half quite poorly. We made a lot of silly errors but I'll focus on the first half, which I thought was really, really pleasing. We were well worthy of being 3-0 up. I think because we've missed a couple of big chances and some of our decision-making where we shoot when we could cross it, I felt for Tony a little bit first half. I thought he was our best player. I thought he came off and linked the play really well. You can see that we've been doing some fitness work with him in the background and he's the main thing I'll take away from today's game. That's exactly what I want from Antonio.  

Is that closer to what you are looking for? 

Listen, it's more like it. We've shown it in flashes again today. We've only shown it in flashes, but I thought the first half was as dominant as you can be in a game and they, they came here, Kilmarnock and were going to try and frustrate us. We thought it might be a sticky game and we tried something clever off a set play and it got us the first goal. So I'm delighted with that. It's important that we're strong on set plays and that was a nice way to get in front because then it changes the way Kilmarnock are going to approach the rest of the match. And yeah, I'm pleased with the boys. They've had a tough week. We all have as a club and it's nice to get the three points and move forward. It's just one game. We've got another big game coming up now on Wednesday. 

Michael, how's Malik Tillman?  

Malik tried to train in the middle of the week and he just felt stiff in a number of areas, so we've just decided not to take the risk. We've obviously felt we had enough for this game without him, and we have a quarter-final coming up, which we're earmarking for his return. 

How important is Todd Cantwell as the lock picker moving forward? 

Yeah, that's how he likes to play. Obviously, he went in and played in the position Malik’s been playing where he can get up and and get close to the goal. Similar to Ianis Hagi, he needs runners, he needs speed. When he gets his eyes up, he needs to see movement. You can see that he's a lovely football player, lots of energy. He regained the ball a lot for us today. I thought he put in a really good performance. I thought all three of the midfielders did, and Tony. I thought those four coming into team brought a freshness and an energy. Today I thought Ryan Kent was good. I thought Sakala had moments he had really high moments and he had moments where he’d like to do better. But all the time with Fashion, you know, it comes from a good place. And I thought first half our speed out of the back from the centre backs was good. Everything about the first-half performance was positive. 

Was it disappointing to lose the goal? 

Yeah, that's where my frustration is in the game. I haven't looked at it back, but my staff tell me it's probably a foul, their goal. And that's where my frustration is because I'd like to have given John Souttar a little bit more today. You know obviously with our second team playing in the Lowland League can only play under 21 players in that. So it's not like I can drop him down to get minutes, so I've got to try and get him up to speed in training. He's trained ever so well for a couple of weeks now. The final, I felt was too soon. I wasn't going to use him in that. But today was an opportunity to maybe give him a little bit more, but the game didn't allow me to. But John's been training ever so well. I'm not the only one impressed, his teammates like him and the staff as well. So it's important for him that he can stay fit now. He was going great guns and then just had a bit of a reaction, a bit of swelling, so we had to slow down. But the last two weeks he's trained hell for leather and he trains how he plays. That's the one thing I would say that I don't think it will take him too long to get up to speed because he trains properly every day.  

Is it now a choice between Morelos and Colak up front? 

Well, I've only had the option of Alfredo fully fit as a number nine since I've come back in. So it wasn't a choice of picking between them really. Today I've decided to go with Tony because I felt his personality and energy was worth a start. I wanted more energy in that position today, and obviously, he didn't play last week, so he's not carried the same amount of weight as maybe the boys that have played. I thought you see that in his performance. We've got two more games this week. There's no other reason for leaving Alfredo other than I want to give Tony a go. And I thought he played fantastically. You know, if that's the boy that was fully fit at the start of the season and doing well, then I haven't seen that until today, so I'm delighted for him on a personal level. 

Is there a Kent and Morelos contract update? 

Listen, I think they’re both going to have options in the summer. I just want to see where this squad is and where it's going. I think I’ve come back in and tried to give the team stability with some of the old things that we did when I was here previously. We had a lot of injuries when I came in. We've stabilised it, lost one game in 16, one game in 18 for the team. So I've gone with stability but you're going to see change. You're going to see change in the way the team plays and the formation and everything. We've just got to get to that. In terms of Ryan and Alfredo, Ryan Jack, Scott Arfield, Allan McGregor, all of those guys, I've wanted to focus on the football. So whatever chats went on before I came in, of course, I've had some personal chats with the boys, but we haven't put anything in front of anyone because we want to see how things move in the coming weeks. It doesn't have to make sense to anybody other than ourselves. You know, of course, I've spoken to those boys. The most important thing is I want them to focus on football and they're focused on it. I've been delighted with both Alfredo and Ryan, but every player really. No one's giving me a problem since I've come back in regardless of their status and where they're at contract-wise. 

In the first half, Ryan Jack and Nico Raskin, how did you enjoy watching them together?  

Yeah. Listen, look, I've got to make decisions for the betterment of the players and the teams. It’s clear Nico's a really good player. I wouldn't have met him the amount of times I did and spent all that time trying to get him to come to Glasgow if I didn't rate him as a player, but I think you could see today that the intensity of the first half played on him. That's where he's at. He's not played a lot of football. He's coming to a new country. He's 21, in a new city. He's learning a lot, the intensity of training and the intensity of the games. He's got to get up to it and I thought he was really, really good. First half I thought it was excellent and we were trying something. Obviously today we felt they might go into Christian Doidge a bit. So we preferred to have Jack in the middle and him playing slightly to the left and I thought he played ever so well. He just ran out of legs in the second half. I'd rather him do that, play to his maximum and run out of legs a little bit because he'll pick up on that as the games go by. But I think he's had a really good introduction to our club. It's lovely that the fans like him and his teammates like him as well. I think we've got a really good player moving forward and I thought Ryan Jack was good today and he’s just got to be careful around those yellow cards because he always makes my heart skip a little bit when he gets one. 

As a manager, how do you find that kind of consistency, that relentless performance at Tynecastle, for example? 

Well, we'll keep talking about it. You know, staying on it. They are out on the pitch, they play and when the second-half starts, you say all the right things. At half-time we've had some really good responses. That's the worst one we've had from half-time. When they're out on the pitch they're playing. They have got to talk to each other. You're in a packed-out stadium. They can’t always hear me from the side, but it wasn't just one player at the start of the second-half. We were giving the ball away unopposed. Nico was, Tav was, Todd was, Ryan was, Connor, Ben. So it's something we'll talk about in the week, but I think after the last few days we've had, the first half, I'll take that. We'll move forward. You can only beat the team that's in front of you. We've won again today. We roll into Hibs on Wednesday. They're in good form at the moment and it'll be a tough game and I think Hibs will come for us. We'll look forward to that because that will give us more spaces to go and play and you know Kilmarnock came here today to frustrate us. And I thought the game would be more sticky than it was, so I was delighted at half-time. So that will be my thoughts coming away from here this evening. 

Will Malik Tillman be an option on Wednesday? 

It's an option, mate. It's an option, but obviously, priorities and the team played well today, so who are you taking out?

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Any news on Alex Lowry? 

The day before the Partick Thistle game he was in the thinking to start. No one was near him. The ball came and he turned and he had a problem with his ankle and it was a six-week injury, which he is two weeks into so he's out of the boot at the moment, but Alex is probably four weeks from being ready to play. 

James Sands has obviously gone back to New York last week. What the decision-making behind that process?

James, come to speak to me about four weeks ago and he's a midfielder that's had to play centre-back for us and when he's had to play there, he's done really well. Obviously, the MLS season was about to start. I think he had some assurances from that end that he would be a big player for them and I suppose the question that he was throwing out was, are we going to take up the option? Unfortunately, we weren't going to do that. Nothing against James and the way that he played, but we didn't feel we were going to take up the option and we had an agreement because of us only having two fit senior centre at the time that we'd get the final out of the way and then he could go back. So that's why he wasn't involved in the cup final. I didn't think it was fair to involve James over a player that's going to be here and that's it. They're the decisions that I've got to make. I really enjoyed working with him as a boy. I thought he gave his heart and soul. Every day he was a good teammate and certainly earlier in the season when we were qualifying for the Champions League and he was playing those games against PSV. he did a really good job for the club in the time that was here, so we wish him well. 

John Souttar coming back as well, maybe that was part of that decision-making process? 

Yeah, of course, it was. And look, John Lundstram played there. Young Leon King played there early in the season. So I feel now we're in a better place and the games are running down and it's hard. The boy's living a long way away from home. He knows it's not going to be in his future to be here. He looks around and thinks, well, look, we've just signed two midfielders. I'm probably not going to get a go in midfield because I'm a loan player as well. So I had to look at him face to face, man to man. And he asked me the question and I said, ‘yeah, you can but at a time that suits everybody rather than yourself'. I thought after that he was, in the three or four weeks after it, a real credit to himself. I thought he stuck to that plan and so did we. So as I say, we wish him well.