Kris Boyd’s Kilmarnock jersey – not to mention his shorts – may be a little neater these days, and on Saturday at Hamilton he may have looked a forlorn figure for the best part of an hour as he operated in a sole striker role that his athletic prowess is wholly unsuited to.

One thing that the passage of time has certainly not diminished though is Boyd’s voracious appetite for goals, and he proved the point again at Hamilton as he buried his 100th for the club with all the relish that he showed as he claimed his first back in November 2001.

“I can remember it,” Boyd said after the game. “It was against Motherwell at home, in the league. “We won 2-0 at Rugby Park. I think it might have been my first league start. It was a good few year ago. I think Lee McCulloch was playing for Motherwell, that’s how long ago it was!”

Boyd’s bullet header from Jordan Jones’s cross with 20 minutes remaining dragged Kilmarnock off the canvas, and minutes later Souleymane Coulibaly – who had by this time mercifully climbed off the bench to aid Boyd in attack – produced a moment of real quality to curl the ball high past Remi Matthews in the Hamilton goal and give Lee Clark’s men a most welcome, if entirely unlikely, comeback win.

For Boyd, the three points that lifted the gloom that has been threatening to envelope the Rugby Park club was the most important reward from their visit to the Superseal Stadium, but the century of strikes in the blue and white stripes was a welcome by-product of the victory.

“I”m delighted to get there," he said. "If I stay in the team, hopefully I can now kick on.

“I’m delighted to have done it for Kilmarnock, especially having done it already with Rangers. To do it with two teams, yeah, that’s a great feeling.”

In-keeping with how their season has gone to this early stage, the first hour of this match seemed to be going against Kilmarnock. Boyd wasn’t deterred by an early miss when he ballooned over from six yards after a break of the ball fell his way, but Hamilton took full advantage of the reprieve to hit the front midway through the half.

Ali Crawford played a through ball for Alex D’Acol to latch onto, but the striker took too long to sort out his feet and his shot was blocked. Greg Docherty was alert to pick up the scraps though and feed the ball to Louis Longridge on the left of the area. The wide-man took a touch to set himself before firing a low left-foot effort through Jamie MacDonald at his near post. It was a powerful strike, but by MacDonald’s own high standards he would have been disappointed that he let it through.

Kilmarnock boss Lee Clark was serving a touchline ban, so he wasn’t able to go into the dressing room at half-time to gee up his troops. It was left to assistant Lee McCulloch to try to get more from a Killie side who had been woeful in the opening period.

There was no discernible difference as the second period got underway, but whether the instruction to throw on Coulibaly for the ineffective George Green and go with two up top came from the dugout or the stand – where manager Clark was giving the locals earache – it was to prove the decisive factor in the match.

“When we went to two up, we caused them a lot of problems,” Boyd said. “And I thought the boy Jordan Jones was excellent on the left wing.

“When you are playing the way we’re playing, getting it forward and getting bodies in the final third, it is better to have two up front.

“When you are flicking things on, there is someone there to pick it up. That’s better than flicking it on and trying to chase it yourself – especially with my pace!”

For Hamilton, the way they surrendered a winning position to fall behind in just four lacklustre minutes compounded the frustration of their week since the creditable draw at Ibrox.

Goalscorer Louis Longridge was left to lament a series of missed opportunities from his teammates that could, and probably should, have given them the win.

“I think we dominated large parts of the game,” Longridge said. “We felt comfortable and it’s a wee reality check for us when we’ve had that many chances, not taken them and they’ve taken theirs to go down the road as victors on the day.

“When you’re creating chances it’s about taking them at this level – as they have shown us. They didn’t create many but they’ve won the game and got all three points.”

HAMILTON: Matthews; Lyon, Devlin, Sarris, Gillespie; Donati, Docherty; Longridge, Crawford, Imrie (Roy, 84’); D’Acol (Brophy, 70’).

Scorers: Longridge (26’)

Booked: Gillespie (75’)

KILMARNOCK: MacDonald; Taylor, Addison, Boyle, S.Smith; Dicker; Green (Coulibaly, 54’), McKenzie, M.Smith (McFadzean, 69’) Jones (Waddington, 90’); Boyd.

Booked: Green (51’), Boyle (51’), McKenzie (90’)

Scorers: Boyd (69’), Coulibaly (73’)

Man of the match: Jordan Jones (Kilmarnock)

Referee: Steven MacLean

Attendance: 2228