Kilmarnock boss Allan Johnston reserved high praise for Alexei Eremenko in what was in the end a disappointing day for the club on Saturday.
The Russian-born Finland midfielder made his first start for Killie since returning to the club and was instrumental in their revival at Tannadice in the eventual 3-2 loss to Dundee United.
Eremenko levelled for the visitors in the 40th minute when he fired home from 25 yards, cancelling out Gary Mackay-Steven's earlier opener, before Kris Boyd gave them a 2-1 lead just after the hour-mark.
United scored twice in the final 25 minutes to produce a stellar comeback at home but at least the performance of Eremenko was a massive positive for Johnston's side.
"It must have been a great game for the neutral to watch. For large spells, I thought we were the better team," he said.
"I thought Eremenko was different class and we looked a threat with him in the team.
"It was great for him to get 90 minutes under his belt. You can see he has loads of ability.
"To be fair to him, he worked really hard. It's just so disappointing to score two goals at a difficult venue like Tannadice and still lose.
"We've got nothing to show for our efforts after putting so much into the match.
"We just can't afford to lose the goals in the manner in which we did. At the end of the day, it's results that count."
