Billy finds happy place
Mckay gets starting role and rewards Yogi with crucial double
BILLY MCKAY was all smiles after claiming a classic striker’s double.
But the County hitman is also honest enough to admit grin bonuses have been few and far between as this has been the season from hell.
The Staggies’ battle to beat the drop has been bad enough but the fact he’s been in and out of the side has made it miserable for Mckay.
This start was only his 10th in the league and 14th in all competitions across 2020/21.
The two goals took him to five for the campaign and victory took the Dingwall team four points above Killie with a game in hand.
Mckay said: “First of all, it was nice to play.
“To get a couple of goals and help the team win was perfect, in the end.
“It’s massive. If they had got the result it wouldn’t be looking great but now we’ve put a little gap between us and the bottom two.
“We want to kick on from here. It is seven games to go and it’s good momentum for us as well to go and get another result against Hibs.
“It hurts massively not being in the team.
“I’ve not enjoyed a minute of this season, if I’m being honest.
“I’ve been in and out of the team and, at my age, I just want to play football.
“I think you could see today that my hunger is still there and my drive is still there to score goals.
“Hopefully, I can play as much as possible in what remains of this season and help the team to stay in the Premiership.”
County have now won five of John Hughes’ 13 games in charge but remain erratic.
Their best results have come against the top four, with wins over Aberdeen, Hibs and Celtic.
Mckay admits winning when it mattered against Kilmarnock, a team just a point behind them on the morning of the match, was a huge psychological boost.
He said: “It was a bit nervy at the end but the boys got the job done and that’s all that matters.
“It’s massive because, apart from Hibs, we’re going to be playing all the teams around us in the table now.
“It gives us a boost to know that we can beat these sides.
“If we stay in the game, we’re going to get chances, score goals and win games.
“That’s what this win has done for us.”
The tension during the 90 minutes was clear given the importance of the match and it led to some ragged, physical football.
County looked most dangerous when they got the ball down and played.
Yet it was the visitors who drew first blood after 18 minutes as ex-Rangers and Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty grabbed his first goal for the club.
County should really have cleared the danger but, after his initial attempt was blocked, the ball bobbled back to Lafferty inside the area and he smashed a shot just beyond the reach of keeper Ross Laidlaw.
Lafferty was lucky to stay on the field in 33 minutes after what looked like a deliberate swing of the arm into defender Alex Iacovitti’s face.
County, though, hurt Killie in retaliation with a 38th-minute equaliser. A terrific ball in from the right from Jason Naismith bobbled up just behind the Killie defence and Mckay ghosted into the six-yard box to apply the finish.
The second half opened with the Staggies grabbing two goals in three minutes to storm 3-1 up.
First, Naismith again swept the ball across the box from right to left after a breakaway move to find sub Leo Hjelde, the teenage Celtic loanee powering in a first-time, left-foot strike.
In the very next attack, a long Jordan Tillson punt forward paid dividends with Mckay controlling superbly to rattle in a 12-yard finish.
County thought they should have had a penalty after 65 minutes when Brandon Haunstrup clattered late into Mckay, although the striker admitted later he was outside the box.
Killie won a penalty of their own with 13 minutes left, with Keith Watson adjudged to have dragged down Greg Kiltie. Lafferty thundered the spot-kick past Laidlaw.
The leveller never came for Killie and the alreadybooked Ross Millen got a red card after words with the linesman. Killie manager Tommy Wright said: “If you defend like we did for the three goals, you don’t deserve anything from the game. The goals we lost epitomise and identify why we’ve had the problems we’ve had.”