Robbie Neilson watched Hearts scratch a six-year-itch with a win over Killie and insisted Lawrence Shankland should target finishing as the Premiership's top sharp-shooter this season.
Shankland's double and a Josh Ginnelly strike secured the three points and a first home success over the Ayrshire side since December 2016, which was delivered during Ian Cathro's doomed reign. An impressive return from the World Cup break by the Tynecastle side moved them one point behind third placed Aberdeen and Neilson was delighted with the day's work and he believes his main marksman, who sits joint top of the Scottish Premiership scoring chart with 11 goals, can be provided with more lethal ammunition from his team-mates in the months ahead.
He said: "It’s massive for us, any team that’s got a guy that can be top goal scorer in the league is going to be of benefit. Today we moved him a bit to the right hand side then up top and he can play those roles for us.
"He is a very clever player, it’s just really getting chances for him because Lawrence will score goals. It’s about us making sure we get enough bodies around about him in good areas. I think we’ll start to see the real quality we’ve got in those forward areas.
"It was important today with Aberdeen losing against Celtic, it gave us an opportunity to get right behind them and hopefully we can get a result up at Tannadice next week and get closer again.
“I was satisfied. I thought we played really well in the first half. Coming off the World Cup break, you’re never really sure what you’re going to get. We had some tough games in Swansea, Blackburn and Almeria so you never know what you will get coming into the game.
“I was pleased with the first half but in the second half I didn’t think we really got control. Kilmarnock came more into it but I was pleased to see it out."
READ NEXT
