Chelsea needed stoppage-time goals from substitutes Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke to edge past 10-man Leicester 4-2 in a wild FA Cup quarter-final at Stamford Bridge.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side led 2-0 before the visitors stormed back to level, but a glorious flick from the excellent Cole Palmer set up Chukwuemeka to slot the ball into the corner to put Chelsea 3-2 up before Madueke gave the score some gloss with a brilliant solo effort.

Chelsea were two up at the break thanks to goals from Marc Cucurella and Palmer, while Raheem Sterling had a first-half penalty saved.

A surreal own-goal from Axel Disasi and a Stephy Mavididi goal improbably hauled Leicester back, before Callum Doyle was red carded late on.

Extra-time beckoned, until Pochettino’s subs won it.

Chelsea took the lead after 12 minutes and the move started with a powerful tackle from Moises Caicedo to win the ball on the edge of his own box. One pass released Palmer down the right, and he looked up to see Nicolas Jackson galloping clear and he crossed for the unmarked Cucurella to tap home.

After a strong Leicester opening the goal settled nerves around Stamford Bridge, but this has become a ground used to existing in a state of apprehension.

Robert Sanchez dithered and was nearly dispossessed by Patson Daka, with only good fortune sparing the goalkeeper’s embarrassment. Abdul Fatawu might have done better when he glanced a header wide at the back post from Daka’s cross.

Whatever frustration the winger felt, he moments later allowed it to get the better of him when he crashed through the back of Sterling inside the box for a penalty.

Sterling had scored only six goals in the league this season and took the ball out of the hands of usual taker Palmer, a move he would quickly regret. The penalty was hit low and centrally, and was saved by Jakub Stolarczyk.

He had the chance to make amends for his penalty blunder when sent clear by a fine through-ball from Caicedo but he placed a shot wide with only Stolarczyk to beat.

Sterling finally put things right in the final minutes of the first half. Receiving the ball in the box he ran it almost to the byline and crossed low from the left for the arriving Palmer to make it 2-0.

Chelsea were in full control, but five minutes after the break things altered in ludicrous circumstances.

Disasi received the ball back from a throw-in in the right-back position and was quickly put under pressure by Daka. Turning to play it to his goalkeeper, the Leicester forward nudged him at the moment of contact, and his pass span up and out of his control, sailing over Sanchez for a comical own-goal.

And the tie was level after 62 minutes.

Mavididi cushioned the ball wide on the left, turned and ran at Gusto. The defender backed off and with a swing of the right boot Mavididi sent a fine, arching shot round the dive of Sanchez and in.

It capped a stunning recovery from the visitors, but within minutes they were down to 10 men.

Jackson was tripped by defender Doyle and Andrew Madley initially gave a penalty and showed a yellow card. VAR showed the contact was outside the box, but as the furthest Leicester player back, Doyle saw red.

Madueke came off the bench and saw a first-time shot saved low to his right by Stolarczyk, before he skied one into the Matthew Harding Stand from 12 yards.

The last hope of avoiding extra-time looked to have slipped away. Then came Palmer’s flick, Chukwuemeka’s finish and Madueke’s crowning touch to send Chelsea to Wembley.

Paul Gilligan left Cheltenham full of pride after Buddy One’s brave effort when fourth in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle.

Although a 40-1 outsider in the hands of the trainer’s son Jack, the seven-year-old left his previous disappointing efforts in Grade One company in the past to be right in the mix on the run to the final flight.

Buddy One was eventually beaten just over eight lengths by the impressive winner Teahupoo and although unable to match the Cheltenham Festival heroics of Gilligan’s Bertie’s Dream in 2010, the stable’s latest standard-bearer lost little in defeat.

“It was a massive run and I’m over the moon with it,” said Gilligan.

“He could have done with the ground being a bit better, but that’s not making excuses and with that said he has run a super race.

“I knew he was better than his previous run in Grade Ones and he was fantastic, we have no complaints and it was a great day.

“Jack gave him a master ride and he came up the inner and just for one split second, one stride he had his nose in front. I suppose the others just picked up and quickened better on the ground.

“He was only beat eight lengths and that is nothing to be ashamed of, it was fantastic. He had a lot of very good horses behind and if I could have more horses like him it would be great.”

Buddy One followed his second to Iroko at last year’s Festival by going to Aintree and again running with real credit and Gilligan is toying with following a similar plan this time around, with a shot at the Jrl Group Liverpool Hurdle on Grand National day preferable to a visit to the Punchestown Festival.

“I’m half thinking he will go to Aintree because we have an extra week compared to last year and that will probably wrap up his season,” continued Gilligan.

“I’d rather not go to Punchestown and it would be great if we could get a result in Aintree with him as he ran well there last year.

“There’s no reason not to go there. I couldn’t be happier.”

Despite proving himself to be a top operator over timber, Gilligan is now looking ahead to a novice chase campaign next season with Buddy One, confident his jumping ability will help him take higher rank over the larger obstacles.

“He might not win a Grade One over hurdles but with his jumping, he never misses a beat and I think he is going to make a fantastic chaser, I just get that feeling with him,” continued the Athenry-based handler.

“He will probably start off his chasing career at Galway or something like that in October.

“He got home Saturday morning and he travelled home brilliantly. He got off the box with not a bother on him.”

Although there was no joy for any of Gilligan’s three runners at the Festival, he ended what he described as a “special week” by watching his son Danny return to the winner’s enclosure having steered Gordon Elliott’s Better Days Ahead to Martin Pipe glory.

Gilligan himself had a runner in the race in the hands of Buddy One’s pilot Jack, but once Sequestered’s challenge began to wane, he quickly turned to cheering Better Days Ahead home.

He said: “Even without getting a winner it was just a great week and then Danny rattled it off with his winner in the last. Cheltenham is one of the places you want to be.

“I was watching our own horse through the race and when our chance was gone of course we were then looking for Danny and we roared him home.

“He’s a super rider and Gordon has given him some great opportunities, he’s very good to him.

“It’s what dreams are made of and we have one picture from Friday where Jack went over to Danny after the last and the two of them gave one another a hug.

“That was a very proud moment for us and to have two sons riding in Cheltenham and one to have a winner and the other to be in the same race was a proud moment, a special week.”

Gordon Elliott is already plotting how Gerri Colombe can bridge the gap with Galopin Des Champs in next year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The eight-year-old made Willie Mullins’ dual blue riband hero pull out all the stops at this season’s Festival, and Elliott feels there is still more to come from his charge.

He told Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday: “I’d say Gerri Colombe was definitely a career best. We were delighted with Gerri and the winner is very, very special.

“The loose horse has done us absolutely no favours – we’d have never won on the day, but we might have been a little bit closer.

“I think with another summer out at grass, he’s going to be even better. He probably jumped his best throughout the race on Friday but I still think he needs to learn to come down and get from A to B a little bit quicker.

“If you look at Galopin Des Champs, he’s a lot quicker through the air than we are, but that’s getting better all the time.

“Whether we run him again this year or not, I’m not sure. If I do, it’ll likely be Punchestown, Aintree will probably come a bit soon. But if not, it’ll be all systems go again for the Gold Cup next year.”

Elliott enjoyed Grade One glory with Teahupoo in the Stayers’ Hurdle and he is set to target a repeat success in that contest next term.

The seven-year-old had just one previous outing this season, when winning the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse, and another light schedule is on the cards.

“He suits the race,” said the Cullentra House handler. “He’s a laid-back type of horse, he doesn’t take too much energy out of himself.

“So, we’ll probably look at going back to Punchestown, all being well, and then maybe going the same path again next year, with just two or three runs in the season again.

“He’s probably not the biggest or most robust horse in the world, so maybe he doesn’t need a whole lot of racing, but he’s very honest and we’re very lucky to have him.

“His form suggests he runs best with a nice break between runs, so we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing – he’s done us proud so far.”

Irish Point was rerouted from the Stayers’ Hurdle to the Champion Hurdle following the defection of Constitution Hill and performed admirably when chasing home State Man.

He is now in line for a step back up in trip to two and a half miles for the William Hill Aintree Hurdle, where he could clash with the Henry de Bromhead-trained Bob Olinger, who carries the same Robcour colours.

Elliott said: “Irish Point is probably more of a stayer than a two-miler but just the way the race was working out, we had to roll the dice.

“I’d love to go to Aintree. They are in different camps – Henry can worry about his horse and I will worry about mine.”

Parallels can be drawn between Willie Mullins and Sir Alex Ferguson in the aftermath of a memorable Cheltenham Festival for both.

Ferguson is no stranger to standing at the helm of one of the most successful operations in sport and was the manager who led Manchester United’s dominance in English football for 20 years.

His involvement in racing began on the Flat and he still has an involvement in that code, with Spirit Dancer a notable recent success having won the Bahrain International Trophy and the Neom Turf Cup over the winter.

Ferguson owns Spirit Dancer alongside Fred Done and Ged Mason, the latter of whom joins John Hales in making up the Ferguson-Mason-Hales trio that own both Protektorat and Monmiral.

Monmiral landed the Pertemps at 25-1 and Protektorat was a brilliant four-length winner of the Ryanair Chase, providing Ferguson with his first and then his second Cheltenham Festival winner in quick succession.

While Ferguson’s trainers, Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton, trained four winners and a single winner respectively, it was Willie Mullins who dominated the meeting with nine winners, six seconds and six thirds.

Among those winners was his 100th Cheltenham Festival victory, a landmark achievement that makes him the most successful trainer in the history of the fixture – a figure akin to the Ferguson of the racing world.

“What Willie Mullins is doing is fantastic, brilliant,” Ferguson said of the Closutton trainer.

“You can only admire the man.”

Ruby Walsh, former stable jockey to Mullins, identified the similarities between the role of football manager and trainer, saying: “It’s awesome, an incredible achievement as a manager, because that what he is, a sporting manager.

“He is like the CEO, his wife is the CFO, his son is the managing director and he’s doing it all.

“He’s just an incredible manager, that’s what he is and the sport is lucky to have him.

“If he was in any other sport they wouldn’t be telling him he was too dominant.

“He’s just an incredible manager, that’s what he is and the sport is lucky to have him.”

A fundraising lunch in aid of Motor Neurone Disease is taking place at Newbury racecourse on March 22, organised by Triumph Hurdle-winning jockey Steve Jobar and his committee.

Jobar was diagnosed with MND himself in April 2022, when he was shocked to discover there was no cure or effective treatment for his illness.

During his career in the saddle, Jobar rode over 130 winners, which included the 1980 Triumph Hurdle on Heighlin.

His former weighing-room colleague John Francome and trainer Richard Phillips will be on hand at the lunch conducting the auction of a host of attractive prizes.

All 45 tables have been sold and a raffle will be held, where the first prize is a new car or £13,000.

An online auction with 75 items is also taking place, with options to bid on sports tickets, stable visits and sporting memorabilia.

All monies raised will go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association and the event is on course to raise over £100,000, with half going into research into finding a cure for MND and the other half going to the local branch which has supported and offered pastoral care to Jobar and his wife, Dottie.

The items van be viewed at www.stevejobarsupportsmnd.com.

Jamie Snowden is eyeing a shot at the Coral Scottish Grand National with Git Maker after his gallant second at the Cheltenham Festival.

The eight-year-old has proven a stout stayer since upped to three miles and was tasked with the challenge of the Kim Muir at Prestbury Park, where he was partnered by top amateur Will Biddick.

He led three out, but had no answer in the home straight once passed by Gavin Cromwell’s Inothewayurthinkin who proved his class by carrying top-weight to a wide-margin victory.

However, Snowden is taking plenty of positives from the performance – especially how far the front two pulled clear of the remaining finishers – and feels his charge could now be ready for a challenge such as the Ayr marathon on April 20.

“I think he bumped into a graded horse in a handicap,” said Snowden.

“The two of them were 20 lengths clear of the third horse as well, so it was a fair performance. You hope the handicapper doesn’t crucify him for it, but he could now be a nice one for the Scottish National maybe.

“He’s won six of his 11 starts and knows how to win, he’s a tough and hardy sort who stays well. He’s probably ready for a test like that (Scottish National), but we’ll let him get over the Kim Muir, it was a fairly hard race and we’ll have to see how he is and go from there.

“But I suppose the Scottish Grand National could be something to look forward to now.”

Ollie Lawrence finished Saturday’s agonising defeat by France alongside boyhood idol Manu Tuilagi in what was a symbolic moment for England’s midfield.

Lawrence produced a coming-of-age performance in the 33-31 defeat at Groupama Stadium, crossing either side of half-time in an impressive display of power running that was a continuation of his stellar form for Bath.

It was evidence that the 24-year-old centre is ready to provide the ball-carrying might that has been Tuilagi’s calling card since making his debut in 2011.

England have longed to find a defence-smashing alternative to Tuilagi during his regular spells out through injury and in Lyon they finally witnessed a passing of the baton, with the 32-year-old veteran almost certainly playing his final Test before joining a French club next season.

Eddie Jones drew a comparison between the punch they offer in attack in 2021 and, after the similarities were made clear in a riveting climax to the Guinness Six Nations that saw Tuilagi step off the bench for the final 21 minutes, Lawrence paid tribute to a unique team-mate.

“Manu’s been class. You ask anyone in the squad, he’s one of the best people around,” Lawrence said.

“He was my hero growing up, he was someone I looked up to and tried to emulate my game around.

“The way he was playing at a young age in an England shirt was amazing. To keep going playing at this level is testament to him really.

“To have the pleasure to take the field with him on the amount of occasions I have now is special and a memory I will look back on.

“Who knows what is going to happen in the future, but it has been a pleasure playing with Manu. He’s a great bloke on and off the field.”

Lawrence missed the opening two rounds with a hip injury and the current Gallagher Premiership player of the season has grown in influence since making his comeback in a dispiriting defeat by Scotland.

Now 24 caps into his international career, he is proving that his marauding club form translates to the highest level.

“Test rugby is very different to Premiership rugby in a lot of aspects. You get fewer opportunities and have to be more decisive with them. That was one thing I was focussed on this Six Nations,” he said.

“Coming out of the injury, I didn’t want to use that as an excuse, I just wanted to get in there and offer my bit to the team.

“I’ve managed to progress my game to a level where I am confident I can keep pushing to see where I can take it.”

England finished only third in the table but having inflicted Ireland’s solitary defeat and dazzled against France, who triumphed through a final-minute Thomas Ramos penalty, clear progress was made.

“It was a massive step forward for us as a team. Throughout this tournament we’ve progressed nicely. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get over the line,” Lawrence said.

“We fell short and that’s definitely something we’ll keep working on, but it’s really exciting being part of this group. We don’t know where we can take it as a team and that’s the exciting part.”

Crambo is likely to seek redemption in the Jrl Group Liverpool Hurdle after his disappointing display in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

The seven-year-old headed to Festival as Britain’s leading hope in the day three feature, having downed Paisley Park for Grade One honours prior to Christmas in the Long Walk Hurdle.

He was sent off at 7-1 in the hands of Jonathan Burke and having not hurdled at his most fluent as the race began to develop, trailed home some 15 lengths adrift of race winner Teahupoo in ninth.

Full of confidence prior to the race, O’Brien has been left scratching his head after the event and is now poised to give Crambo all the necessary post-race assessments before he attempts to get back on track on Merseyside on Grand National Day.

O’Brien said: “We had no excuses really and Johnny said he felt great for the first half of the race and then just down the back for the second time he just felt like he just came back underneath him a little bit.

“We can’t really find out why, so we will run some tests on him and see where we are. I was delighted with him going into the race, so it will be a bit of a headscratcher, but we’ll keep trying.

“He’ll go to Aintree.”

Dundee’s home game against Rangers has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch which means Celtic go into the international break top of the cinch Premiership.

The reigning champions had put pressure on Phillipe Clement’s side with a 3-1 win over St Johnstone on Saturday to go one point clear.

There was a 9.15am pitch inspection on Sunday morning ahead of the scheduled noon kick-off at the Scot Foam Stadium at Dens Park, with a second inspection by match referee Don Robertson taking place an hour later.

And Dundee released a statement at 10.28am on their X account which read: “Following the referee’s second pitch inspection this morning, today’s cinch Premiership match with Rangers has been postponed.

“Recent rainfall has meant the pitch has become waterlogged and the match has been called off.”

Rangers said the club would “make further comment in due course” in a brief statement acknowledging the postponement.

Rangers have nine fixtures remaining while Celtic have eight, with two Old Firm games still to be played out.

The Gers return to action with a home game against Hibernian on March 30, the same day Dundee travel to Tayside rivals St Johnstone.

The 2024 Guinness Six Nations Championship was ultimately decided by events on the opening night when Ireland beat France in Marseille.

Although the Irish subsequently lost to England at Twickenham, they still successfully defended their title by a margin of five points from runners-up France, while Wales hit rock bottom with a wooden spoon.

Here, the PA news agency looks at five things that were learnt from the tournament.

Ireland back on track after World Cup woe

Ireland emphatically bounced back from familiar Rugby World Cup quarter-final disappointment to underline their status as the northern hemisphere’s top Test side by clinching a second successive championship title.

A record win away to France set the tone for another dominant campaign, with only the finest performance of Steve Borthwick’s reign as England boss – and a last-gasp drop goal – scuppering the pursuit of back-to-back Grand Slams.

Ireland will now turn their attention to backing up widespread claims of being the world’s best. A tantalising two-Test summer series against world champions South Africa should settle that debate. Mouthwatering autumn matches against New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia will follow before head coach Andy Farrell temporarily departs his role to take charge of the British and Irish Lions.

England find their mojo

Finishing third at the 2023 World Cup was a significant achievement, but Steve Borthwick’s reign has really been given lift-off by the last two rounds of the Six Nations.

Toppling defending champions Ireland was their greatest win of the last four years, and it was in the result only that they failed to back it up against France, losing to a Thomas Ramos penalty with seconds left.

England have their mojo back, emboldened by a new-found appetite for attack, and they can look ahead to their summer tour to Japan and New Zealand with genuine excitement. Given how grim it looked when they were beaten by Scotland at Murrayfield on February 24, it is a remarkable turnaround.

Warren Gatland’s Wales in freefall

Wales have gone from World Cup quarter-finalists to finishing bottom of the Six Nations in just five months as they suffered the ignominy of a first wooden spoon since 2003.

Head coach Warren Gatland said that he offered his resignation – which Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney rejected – immediately after a demoralising home defeat against Italy. It was Wales’ fifth successive loss of a tournament when they ultimately propped up the table by seven points.

Gatland’s post-World Cup rebuilding job is an extensive one, and while there was promise provided by newcomers like Cameron Winnett and Alex Mann, Wales ultimately could not overcome the absence of such key performers as Dan Biggar, Liam Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit, Jac Morgan and Taulupe Faletau. George North has now followed Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny into Test retirement, and Wales’ next game is against world champions South Africa. A long and painful road lies ahead.

A familiar story for Scotland

It was a missed opportunity for Scotland to post their best finish of the Six Nations era after somehow managing to end up with just two wins from five despite being well in contention in each of their matches – and establishing commanding positions in four of them.

Concentration issues proved costly in narrow defeats by France, Italy and Ireland, while they were fortunate not to pay the penalty for an alarming second-half collapse in the opening match against Wales.

Gregor Townsend’s side had chances to put the French away, before being left to rue the officials’ controversial decision not to award them a late match-winning try; they had victory firmly within their grasp in Rome before losing their way badly in the second half; and then in Dublin, a poorly executed lineout in front of their own line ultimately undermined a spirited away performance. Scotland must find a way to cut out the flakiness that continues to hold them back from being considered a truly top-class side.

Italy deserve the highest acclaim

While Ireland were once again crowned kings of the Six Nations, a strong case could also be argued for Italy as team of the tournament.

They might have finished only fifth, but their level of improvement under new head coach Gonzalo Quesada was something to behold. Italy had collected the wooden spoon for eight successive seasons, yet this time around there was a quality, purpose, direction and dynamism about their rugby that underpinned victories over Scotland and Wales, an away draw against France and narrow loss to England.

Michele Lamaro was an an inspired captain, the centre pairing of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello proved on a par with any midfield partnership in the competition, newcomer Louis Lynagh looked a Test natural, Paolo Garbisi ran things impressively from fly-half and there was so much better tactical appreciation and execution from Italy than for several seasons. They were a joy to watch.

Warren Gatland faces the biggest challenge of his coaching career after Wales’ alarming demise was confirmed by a first Six Nations wooden spoon for 21 years.

Wales finished seven points adrift of fifth-placed Italy following the Azzurri’s 24-21 victory in Cardiff, which was their 14th defeat in the last 16 Six Nations games.

They have lost seven successive matches in the tournament at home, and Gatland has a miserable 10 per cent Six Nations win-ratio since he returned for a second stint as head coach.

During his trophy-laden first spell in the job between 2008 and 2019, Wales won Six Nations titles, Grand Slams, reached two World Cup semi-finals and were briefly the world’s number one-ranked team.

There are significant mitigating factors behind Wales’ slump, including Dan Biggar, Leigh Halfpenny and now George North retiring from Test rugby, Jac Morgan, Taulupe Faletau and Dewi Lake all recovering from long-term injuries, Louis Rees-Zammit quitting rugby union to pursue a possible American football career and Liam Williams playing club rugby in Japan.

But much of their performance against Italy was scarred by schoolboy errors and a chronic lack of composure. In truth, Italy were at least 20 points better.

Wales’ post-World Cup rebuild has witnessed some green shoots, notably the arrival of newcomers like full-back Cameron Winnett and flanker Alex Mann, while they threatened an unlikely comeback win against Scotland, ran England close and were competitive for an hour before subsiding to France.

The Italy performance, though, illustrated how big Gatland’s task is. Wales’ next game is against world champions South Africa in June, followed by a two-Test tour of Australia.

Asked if he was confident of turning things around, Gatland said: “Absolutely. I’ve never shied away from that.

“We have had glimpses where we have been really good in this tournament. We need to do that for longer periods.

“We need to start better in games and make sure we are more accurate.

“Probably the amount of turnovers in those games have allowed opposition teams some easy outs where they haven’t had to play too much rugby and have waited and relied on us shooting ourselves in the foot with some mistakes.

“We just need to win, don’t we. We need to get some confidence and self-belief, whether that is first of all at the national level, but also at regional level.

“When you start winning and get confidence, it makes a huge amount of difference.

“I know that the regions and (Welsh Rugby) Union are talking collectively and trying to put strategies in place for the future. That will make a huge difference to everyone.”

Gatland said he had offered his resignation – which was rejected – to WRU chief executive Abi Tierney immediately after the Italy game.

The painful Six Nations review process will now take centre-stage, in addition to starting preparations for some demanding assignments against heavyweight southern hemisphere opposition.

Gatland added: “There is planning to be done over the next few weeks, in terms of the summer tour and making sure as a coaching group we are visible in the regions as well.

“I can promise you we will go away and review this really carefully. We have already done some review stuff, and we will work on areas that need to improve.

“I think collectively we have all got a lot of work to do to make sure we can continue to improve the state of Welsh rugby.”

Stephen Robinson believes Kilmarnock’s strike duo ‘bullied’ his St Mirren players during their astonishing second-half collapse at Rugby Park.

The Saints led 2-0 at half-time and they looked comfortable but they were put to the sword after the break by the rampant hosts.

Derek McInnes’ men scored five goals in a crazy 18-minute spell through Kyle Vassell (2), Marley Watkins, Danny Armstrong and David Watson to win 5-2 and move two points above their opponents in the cinch Premiership table.

St Mirren wilted under pressure in the second half and were unable to cope with Kilmarnock strikers Vassell and Watkins, with Robinson labelling the performance ‘unacceptable’.

He said: “I’m shellshocked. It’s very difficult to explain. We were in total control and we were excellent in the first half. We said at half-time that we’d need the same performance in the second half and we started brightly.

“They didn’t change anything at the break, they didn’t make any changes and it was the same shape. I’d love to say that it was a tactical change that caused us problems but it wasn’t.

“We didn’t deal with balls over the top and the front two threw us about – they bullied us.

“As a collective, we didn’t stop their momentum. We tried to slow the game down and prevent them from creating opportunities.

“We need to learn from that and how to deal with the game when the momentum swings the other way because we didn’t.

“It was three goals in five minutes and it was very difficult to get any changes on. I didn’t get the subs on quick enough but we couldn’t as the goals kept going in.

“It was five but it could’ve been more and we must learn lessons from that.

“The experienced boys didn’t manage the game properly and we got punished. To concede five goals is unacceptable and it’s very uncharacteristic for us. We need to look at ourselves as we got punished for our mistakes.”

Meanwhile, Killie boss Derek McInnes heaped praise on Watson after the Kilmarnock starlet added another stunning goal to his growing collection.

McInnes said: “What a goal that was from wee Watson. That’ll be remembered here for a long, long time. He doesn’t score ordinary goals.

“He was playing as an auxiliary right-back today because Brad Lyons and Lewis Mayo couldn’t play. He wasn’t really a right-back out of position but we asked him to nullify Greg Kiltie and he got forward brilliantly.

“It was a great day for the club and we’ve taken a huge step towards securing a top-six finish.”