Steven Naismith addressed the media after seeing his team lose 1-0 to St Mirren in Paisley. He was quizzed on the team's away form, slow starts and Cammy Devlin's role.

Here is everything he had to say:

How frustrating is it to give away cheap goals like that when you come away to a team in a fantastic vein of form? 

“That’s the biggest thing, frustration. We give up a very cheap goal and then we have three good chances which we have to score. That is ultimately what defined the game. St Mirren scoring so early allows them to pick their moments – when to press and when to counter-attack. 

“The game played out very much how we expected it to. It was just both boxes – we gave ourself an uphill challenge losing an early goal and then we weren’t clinical enough in the final third, which has cost us. 

How big a concern and frustration are the slow starts?  

“I’ve experienced it as a player at Hearts. When you are a club that’s going to be challenging for Europe, most teams are happy to sit in and try to frustrate you and allow you to have possession. That’s something I don’t think we have dealt well enough with, especially away from home. It’s something we need to get better at. We need to work on it. 

“We can’t give up that amount of cheap chances. I don’t think the quality was great today, it was a very bitty game. Both teams gave up possession cheaply at times and it was a slow, low-level game. That doesn’t suit the way we want to play. We have to inject that into the game. Whether that be taking a free-kick quickly or not giving away cheap fouls to let the opposition dictate the temp of the game. 

What about the away form? Particularly with away games against Kilmarnock and Ross County to come. 

“It’s something which has been there for a while. We have shown in home games, like Aberdeen last week, the game was tentative for the first 10 minutes and then we were comfortable. We started to dictate the tempo and got a good goal. We need to do that consistently in every game. That comes from our decision-making in small things – whether we give up a foul and then you hand the onus to the opposition to decide how quick that is taken. That’s something we will come up against quite regularly this season and we need to deal with it better. 

It was a cheap goal to give away. 

“It’s disappointing. There is no one person you can pick out because at times everybody has made a mistake. Ultimately, with where that was in the game, it has cost us. And to concede so early on is disappointing. After that we had three or four chances where you would hope to finish one but we didn’t do that. It’s a balance of both. We had enough time when the goal goes in to still do what we wanted to do in the game. 

There was a change in position for Cammy Devlin, what was the thinking there? 

“He wasn’t so much playing out on the wing. When we are in possession you will have seen players all over the pitch, it wasn’t so much that he was playing there. I just felt that having the three midfielders gave us a wee bit more security when we were out of possession and at times that did help us. But that’s not the difference in the game – the difference in the game is in both boxes. 

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When Shankland was sent through at the end, you must have been sure he was going to score. 

“Shanks has done it a number of times. The end of the game is very similar to the one at the end of last season when we were chasing the game. We created chances and got a penalty that we scored to get the draw, but we shouldn’t be sitting waiting in the 96th minute to hopefully get a goal to get us back in the game. I would like us to be either in the game and pushing for a winner, or in the lead and controlling the game. 

It looked like the fourth official was being overly officious, you didn’t seem happy with him in the first half. 

“That’s the game. I’m as frustrated on the side as the team are on the pitch. The small things wind you up and you need to speak to someone about it, so he was getting it. 

With Kilmarnock on Tuesday, you have an immediate opportunity to bounce back. 

“It’s a good week because we have got the chance to get into a semi-final and then we will have another tough game. For me, in some respects I’m pleased that both games are away from home so we can rectify the things I’ve been talking about straight away. We need to try and start these games quicker, try and be more in control and try to be more clinical when we get our chances. 

Beni Baningime was back in the team, what did you make of his performance? 

I thought he did really well. It’s one of those situations where we need to get him minutes so that he is robust enough but I thought he played well. The last two weeks in training he has been really good and you can see his calmness on the ball is a massive asset for us. He will be a big player for us this season. 

How is Nathaniel Atkinson? 

“I’ve not asked and I’m not further down the line with that one. The physios say he has damaged his ankle but I’m not sure. I haven’t asked yet.