THERE are few positives to take from this affair for the Kilmarnock manager, Gary Locke. The only one, really, is that Dundee did not make it into double figures in terms of goals.

This is no attempt to be glib or dismissive. The difference between these two sides really was so alarming that the scoreline could have been anything by the end of 90 minutes.

Dundee, first and foremost, were excellent. There are very good reasons why Greg Stewart made the shortlist for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award last season and the evidence on display at Rugby Park suggests his development as a player is only going to continue in the weeks and months ahead.

His was one of many fine, fine displays for the visitors. He opened the scoring in the 34th minute of a spectacularly one-sided opening period, paved the way for Rory Loy to make things all the more comfortable with an offering either side of the break and then wrapped up the scoring with 12 minutes to play.

Were it not for their goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald and some dreadful profligacy from the Dundee striker Kane Hemmings, the degree of Killie's defeat would have entered the realms of the truly humiliating.

It was bad enough as it was. They created next to nothing all afternoon. A weak header from Kris Boyd, every bit as ineffective as he was at Rangers last year, on 72 minutes represented their first attempt at goal.

There was little invention in their play, little sign of structure or philosophy. Stewart terrorised Kilmarnock while Gary Harkins and Kevin Thomson dominated them in midfield from the first whistle and exerted such a unbreakable stranglehold on the game that it makes you fear for the Ayrshire club even at this early stage.

Their supporters appear to harbour a similar sense of foreboding. Locke is already under pressure. He was roundly abused throughout this encounter, jeered at half-time and forced to run the gauntlet again on his way off the field at the end.

A significant percentage of the home support had gone home by that time, but those who did remain in their seats – as the away fans politely asked their team to at least give them a fifth goal – certainly made plenty of noise.

Locke fielded six new faces in this encounter. Outwith MacDonald, they were all completely anonymous. His signing strategy, which centred around handing lengthy contracts to ageing players limping out of Rangers' worst season in history, is very much under the microscope.

It took only six minutes for MacDonald to be called into action. Indeed, it was to be a busy old afternoon for the former Hearts and Falkirk keeper.

He was forced to parry a low shot from Kane Hemmings and did not seem to know an awful lot about his involvement in denying Stewart after he had shown his first flash of brilliance by dancing through the home defence.

The Dundee forward's shot was crisp and powerful and appeared to hit MacDonald's chest before bouncing wide.

Stewart was at the centre of everything good for the visitors, spraying passes crossfield, linking up play and always appearing a goal threat.

He forced a save from MacDonald with a shot from distance on 26 minutes with Hemmings having called the new number one at Rugby Park into action on another couple of occasions before the half-hour.

Kilmarnock, as unfortunate as it is to admit, could barely get the ball out of their own half. They were certainly incapable of creating anything remotely like a scoring opportunity.

The abuse aimed towards their manager Locke started after 13 minutes when Stevie Smith failed to find Chris Johnston with a quite abysmal forward pass and would only intensify as the match progressed. Hemmings missed a sitter when putting the ball wide at the back post after being picked out by Loy, but the inevitable opener for Dundee would arrive 13 minutes before the interval.

Given the quality of his performance, there seemed a certain justice in the fact it came from the left boot of Stewart.

Paul McGinn played a ball inside to him from the right flank, he took a touch over 20 yards from goal and picked his spot before curling a beautiful effort high past MacDonald to his right and into the net.

With the first half having entered stoppage time, Loy made it two. Kevin Holt played a dangerous low cross in from the left and the ex-Falkirk forward got in front of his man to produce the most delicate of first-time finishes.

Locke was berated by his own supporters as he walked up the tunnel at the break. The fact he chose to make three substitutions at the start of the second half – replacing Chris Johnston, Jamie Hamill and Josh Magennis with Rory McKenzie, Mark O'Hara and Dale Carrick – did not inspire confidence.

Within one minute and 38 seconds of the restart, his team was three goals in arrears. Following another clever passing move, Harkins dinked the ball into the centre of the area from the left side and Loy sprung higher than anyone to provide the final touch and force the ball into the net.

Loy then turned provider to let Stewart put the icing on the cake. He played a short pass to the midfielder, who showed quick feet to move the ball onto his left and a real coolness under pressure to fire a shot past MacDonald from inside the area.

Kilmarnock (4-4-2): MacDonald; Westlake, Connolly, Findlay, Smith; Johnston (McKenzie 46), Hamill (O'Hara 46), Robinson, Higginbotham; Boyd, Magennis (Carrick 46). Subs not used: Samson, McCulloch, Ashcroft, Kiltie.

Booked: O'Hara (51).

Dundee (4-3-3): Bain; McGinn, Konrad, Etxabeguren, Holt; Ross, Harkins, Thomson (McGowan 63); Stewart, Hemmings (Ferry 76), Loy. Substitutes: Irvine, Meggatt, Mitchell, Roberts, Kerr.

Referee: Bobby Madden.