Steven Naismith spoke to the press in the aftermath of Heart of Midlothian's 1-1 draw at home to Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership.

A Kenneth Vargas header gave the home side the early advantage at Tynecastle Park but Naismith's men were unable to build on it, and ultimately had to settle for a point after Marley Watkins drew Killie level with a superb strike from distance midway through the second half.

Here's everything Naismith said:

How do you sum that one up?

It was a battle. For me, the hardest games to deal with are the ones after the international breaks, both as a player and for the coaching staff. It’s really difficult because four or five of our players didn’t get back into training until Friday. And then there is the intensity of international football and the travelling for each game. I think that showed in our performance. We started the game well, asked the question and got on the front foot, and then we get the goal at a good time. But then in those wee moments when we did break through, we just didn’t have that sharpness. It’s difficult. We had to give the players a lot of information yesterday going into the game. I think the goal summed it up – Shanks is through on goal and you think he is going to touch and finish. It gets away from him but he has the intelligence to find Kenneth and it’s brilliant. But that was probably the biggest thing. We knew it was going to be a battle and a fight, and Kilmarnock are really good at what they do. They are direct and the one time we don’t set up properly they get their goal. It’s a brilliant finish from Marley, who is having a really good season. The frustrating part is that we had opportunities to get a second but we didn’t do it. After the international break another game has gone by and the teams below us haven’t gained any ground on us. That’s a positive. On the back of a defeat, the biggest thing is that you get some sort of points in the next game and we have done that. But I think it showed that we’d had a few boys away in the performance.

It was nice to see Vargas marking his new deal with a goal?

That’s why he’s signed. Probably one of the biggest areas he will improve is his finishing. He can sometimes pick the wrong option or the wrong type of finish but once that comes he is going to be some asset for us. It has been a good move all round and it was structured well. We are happy it is now permanent and now he can focus on getting more goals and assists.

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What did you make of Tait's first start?

Really good. He's a real quality player. You could look at his stature and think 'Killie, a physical team, is he going to be able to handle it?' but he's robust, he's happy to go into a tackle, he puts his body in when he needs to, but then he's got a calmness beyond his years. He's happy to take the ball under pressure and he doesn't panic. It was a really good performance from him individually but it's not a surprise to me. 

Were you frustrated by the lack of control at the end of the game?

It's a bit of everything but the frustration is that when we did make a few passes, we broke on them 3v3, 4v3 at times and then it just broke down, we maybe picked the wrong option or the pass was overhit. That's the frustrating thing but I can't be too hard on the players because it's an achievement having 10 or 11 players away on international duty. The next stage is to deal with that and get through it with results. I'm content.

READ MORE: Derek McInnes explains why Hearts are out of reach for Kilmarnock

It was nice to see Barrie McKay getting minutes after a frustrating season for him?

It has definitely been a frustrating season for him, he's felt it. He's definitely shown that he's frustrated. In the moments he was on, you could see his intelligence and his quality. As the weeks go on, he's only going to get better. We need to get him minutes, and get him involved because he's a real threat for us.

Is Watkins' goal just an excellent hit, or could more have been done to prevent it?

Excellent strike, yes. The build-up to it is where we'll look at what we could have done better. It's a simple goal for them, except for the finish. Marley's having a brilliant season. I played with him and have a good relationship. If there's anybody you want to have a finish from there, it's probably him.