Jefferies Showed His Faith In Paul

Jan 6 2008

PAUL DI GIACOMO last night thanked Jim Jefferies for giving him a clean slate - by burying his first Killie goal in 10 months.

The 25-year-old striker was a shock starter at Tynecastle just days after coming back from an unhappy loan spell at Partick Thistle.

But he repaid boss Jeff's faith with a great volley on the stroke of half-time to earn injury-plagued Killie a point and keep them above the dogfight in ninth place.

Jefferies said: "Paul had personal problems at the start of the season so went out on loan - which didn't really work out for him either.

"When you end up not getting a game in the First Division you maybe worry where you go from there.

"But I took him aside when he came back and said 'It's a clean slate'. I just had a wee feeling he'd want to prove a point here - and he did."

Di Giacomo said: "I've all the time in the world for the gaffer and Billy Brown.

"I'm glad he has shown faith in me. They'll get the best from me."

Even faith wasn't enough to scrape Killie a win against 10-man Hearts though.

They were sucked back toward their 18-yard line as Jambos pressed them in the second half and in the end were lucky Andrius Velicka only managed one strike - his 63rd-minute leveller.

Di Giacomo said: "It exposed the myth that it's easier to play against 10 men.

"Tynecastle is a tough place to come and maybe we tried to protect our lead a bit too much."

And Jefferies sighed: "We stretched them well when they went down to 10 men but after they scored we just kept giving the ball away.

"We played right into their hands, the crowd got into the game and we ended up under a lot of pressure.

"It wasn't until the last 10 minutes when we had three great chances that we could actually have won."