Henri Anier didn’t look like a man who was delighted to have scored his first goal for Dundee United.
The Estonian international was courteous enough to address the media at Rugby Park following the Tangerines’ dramatic defeat to Kilmarnock on Saturday.
His despondent demeanour told the whole story, though, as he looked back on a match that saw him get off the mark for the club he joined in the transfer window but also witnessed an injury-time winner for Kilmarnock.
“Obviously, I’m happy to score but very sad the result was not there for us,” he said.
“It was a hard one to take.
“In the first half we showed some great football and the movement was there.
“We were full of energy and it was all going so well.
“However, everyone knows that we were poor in the second half.
“I don’t know why it happened – it’s not easy to answer – but I hope it won’t happen again.
“We thought at half-time we were playing well and said to ourselves: ‘Let’s go and take the win.’
“We wanted a third goal to finish the game but we need to learn from what happened.
“It wasn’t a case that we thought we had the game won because the gaffer told us at half-time we were back at 0-0 and starting again.
“He said we needed to finish the game off.
“But there were too many mistakes all over the team.
“Everyone knows that and now we just need to go hard for the next game.
“We can’t drop quality like that from one half to the other so next time we will be better.”
That was a pretty accurate summary of the game from Anier.
It may have been a good one for the neutrals and Killie fans – especially the injury-time freekick from Sammy Clingan that made it 3-2 to the hosts.
However, it was a miserable experience for the several hundred United fans who made the long journey to Ayrshire just six days after some would have paid big money to head down to Stranarer for the Scottish Cup tie.
It could have been all so different, though, had they maintained the standard they set in the first half, when they looked likely to score every time they broke up the park.
The passing of the likes of Ryan Dow, Chris Erskine, Nadir Ciftci, Charlie Telfer and Anier himself often bamboozled the Killie backline.
Losing centre-half Callum Morris at half-time to injury didn’t help, neither did some poor goalkeeping from Rado Cierzniak.
United were on the front foot from kick-off and took a dramatic lead with just two and a half minutes on the clock.
They were gifted a penalty when Killie’s Alexei Eremenko clattered into John Rankin inside the box – right in front of referee Stephen Finnie.
There was no doubt it was a spotkick and up stepped Ciftci to shoot low to goalkeeper Craig Samson’s right to make it 1-0 to United.
The Tannadice team’s bright start nearly earned a second goal when Ryan Dow was sent clear but Samson did well to come off his line and make the save.
However, it was 1-1 on 10 minutes when the Tangerines conceded a terrible goal.
A high ball into the box appeared harmless enough until it was hooked back across the face of goal by Josh Magennis. Cierzniak was too easily beaten as the ball trundled past him and inside the post.
The game was wide open and, just three minutes later, United snatched the lead back.
Once again it was a case of a keeper not covering himself in glory as Samson seemed to help Henri Anier’s shot into the net after the Estonian international was played in by Chris Erskine. It was Anier’s first goal for his new club.
There was an incredible escape for the home team on 31 minutes when a looping cross from the left by Paul Dixon was booted off the line but only as far as Dow. He had a go but his shot was blocked and then the same happened to Anier before the ball was finally cleared.
Having had the upper hand before the break, the Tangerines were second best after the interval.
United had to rejig things at half-time when Morris went off injured to be replaced by Euan Spark.
Manager Jackie McNamara moved Ryan McGowan into the heart of the defence alongside Sean Dillon, with Spark slotting in at right-back.
With Jarek Fojut sitting in the stand serving a suspension, the Tangerines were now without their first-choice central defensive pairing.
That seemed to spook them and the momentum was thereafter with the hosts.
Killie quickly tried to capitalise on any uncertainty in the visitors’ ranks and Cierzniak did well to get down to save a header from Magennis three minutes into the second period.
However, it was 2-2 on 52 minutes when United conceded yet another terrible goal.
There seemed to be more meat in a half-time pie than the shot from Chris Johnston but, despite the Killie man slipping as he struck the ball, it still somehow managed to squeeze its way past Cierzniak and his defenders.
On 57 minutes, the visitors brought on Blair Spittal for Erskine then they had a lucky escape when Tope Obadeyi missed from right in front of goal.
Former Killie frontman Robbie Muirhead made his debut for the Tangerines on 73 minutes when he replaced Anier and was greeted by a mixture of boos and applause from the home fans.
However, there was to be no fairytale win for Muirhead against the club he left on transfer deadline day.
Instead, it turned into a horror story as United lost the game in the third minute of injury-time.
Rankin conceded a freekick just outside the box and up stepped Clingan to bullet his shot past Cierniak to grab Killie’s first win since January 1 and inflict United’s first defeat of 2015.