Safety first for visitors
AT this same venue, on the same weekend last season, Kilmarnock recorded a 4-0 win which gave them fresh hope of avoiding relegation. It took a fraught play-off tie to ultimately do so, but the good news after the Ayrshire side produced a similarly efficient showing at the Super Seal Stadium yesterday is that it seems increasingly likely no last-gasp panics will be required this time.
A play-off spot is the worst they can do now and even then there are four teams sweating far more about that ordeal than they are, not least of them yesterday’s hosts Hamilton. The Rugby Park side aren’t safe yet but one more win and they surely will be. This kind of breathing space seems like a rare luxury for fans from this corner of Ayrshire.
It always helps to have a goalkeeper churning out clean sheets at this stage of the season and as harsh as it seemed for Jamie MacDonald to lose his starting spot midway through the season, Hamilton yesterday had the misfortune to come up against an inspired Freddie Woodman intent on his third scoreless game in the last four. The home side felt high balls in the vicinity of Dougie Imrie could exploit Killie left-back Greg Taylor’s lack of inches, and twice in the first half they used this route to test the on-loan Newcastle keeper to the full.
First Imrie’s early shot was heading into his top corner until the fingertips of Woodman tipped it on to a post, then the same man’s half-hit header would still have snuck into the bottom corner had the goalkeeper not dived full length to his left to wedge it off the foot of the post. Greg Docherty also stung Woodman’s palms during the second period, but Kilmarnock kept their hosts at bay with a measure of comfort and have now lost just one in their last seven. On the occasions when Woodman wasn’t the hero, it was usually Gary Dicker or some other member of Kilmarnock’s back line who was bravely throwing himself in the line of fire.
At the other end, the Rugby Park side posed menace with their high pressing and counter attacking all day long, and created two goals from set plays in the opening halfhour which were enough to put an end to Accies’ own four-match unbeaten streak. The first was nicely crafted from a corner kick, a delivery from the enterprising Jordan Jones being steered first time into the path of Steven Smith, whose shot was blocked on the line before being forced in by Conor Sammon. The second came from Luke Hendrie’s long throw, Kris Boyd winning the flick and Jones gambling off the left to fire low past Remi Matthews. They successfully made the second half something of a non-event, with the only real talking points being simmering feuds between Imrie and Jones, and Georgios Sarris and Smith.
“Hamilton hit the post early due to one of our mistakes but I think we deserved it as after that we re-grouped,” said McCulloch. “I haven’t looked at the table so I don’t know how much we need to do. It’s still a game at a time and we aren’t out of the woods yet.
“The togetherness of the boys is brilliant, they’re coming into work every day with a spring in their step and that includes the staff.”
Accies’ boss Martin Canning said: “It was a strange game because we were probably the better team. But it was frustrating because we didn’t defend our box properly.
“The match at Inverness on Saturday is now huge for us. It’s not as though we’ve been dragged into something we didn’t expect to be involved in.”
Hamilton hit the post early due to one of our mistakes but I think we deserved it after that