Jefferies relief after late win

Jefferies watched his side outplay Aberdeen at Rugby Park on Saturday before going down to a 2-1 defeat. But the boot was on the other foot in Lanarkshire as Killie survived some decent Well pressure, especially in the opening quarter, before substitute Nish headed home Peter Leven's near-post corner. Killie keeper Graeme Smith was instrumental in a victory that moves Kilmarnock into fifth place in the SPL. Jefferies said: "It just shows you. On Saturday we didn't deserve to lose. Tonight a draw was probably the best we could have hoped for. "We have not started the game well. Graeme Smith and Gordon Greer were outstanding in the first half, but we never got going. "We spoke about it at half-time, there were a few choice words. It was the same players as Saturday apart from Simon Ford replacing David Lilley. "All that changed was the application. It was magnificent on Saturday and we should have won. "There wasn't much in it in the second half, we were more of a threat. "And when it's 0-0 and you put a great ball in from a corner Nish is always liable to come up with something." Well manager Maurice Malpas felt aggrieved after Well controlled most of the game and came away with nothing. "Kilmarnock were unlucky on Saturday, we were unlucky tonight," he said. "There was only one team in the game, only one team deserved to win, only one team looked like scoring, only one team got kicked in the teeth. "There was never any time we were under great pressure "We went to sleep with a lack of concentration at a set-piece and we got punished for it. "Overall I'm delighted with the way we played but to win games you have to score goals or teams like that can come back and punish you. "I'm just disappointed that a few games at home we have played reasonably well and lost." Malpas had to replace his keeper Graeme Smith with Colin Meldrum after the former Rangers player failed to shake off the effects of a first-half collision with Steven Naismith. "He has got a sore one on the base of his back, at half-time it stiffened up, he is a major doubt for Saturday," he said. Meanwhile, Jefferies revealed Garry Hay had been taken off in the first half because of a hamstring problem, while Lilley did not make the squad after reporting pain in his knee