Free-kicks the key for Spiders as Mckinnon recalls historic hat-trick against Killie
Recently-appointed Queen’s Park head coach Ray Mckinnon has told his Hampden players that it will be okay to not play at their best at Rugby Park and win, as he was a member of a Dundee United side that did that on a memorable day for the 49-year-old.
Back in February 1997, Mckinnon became one of only five players in world football to net a hat-trick of free-kicks as the Tannadice men won 3-2 at the Ayrshire ground. He said: “Dundee United did not play well that day but we managed to win. I took three free-kicks, and scored them all, so it was a strange afternoon.”
Mckinnon is in good company. Lazio duo Beppe Signori and Sinisa Mihajlovic both claimed trebles from dead balls in the 1990s, Greek international Kostas Frantzeskos did likewise for PAOK in the same year as the then Tannadice midfielder and Brazilian Cristiano da Silva notched a treble in the J-league with Kashiwa Reysol in 2015.
Mckinnon added: “I was only made aware a couple of weeks ago that there are only five of us. I am not sure if the Queen’s Park players know about it. If it is ever mentioned my assistant Lawrie Ellis just rolls his
Ray Mckinnon (right and inset) is congratulated by Erik Pedersen after scoring for Dundee Utd against Kilmarnock in 1997.
eyes and says, ‘oh no here we go again’.”
“I would gladly accept the same outcome as United
achieved and we have a couple of players that could give Kilmarnock problems from setpieces. Joffrey Lidouren can whip them in and David Galt has a bit of a rocket shot on him so you never know.”
The Spiders boss, who is creating more history by being the first Queen’s manager to lead a side of professionals following the decision in midweek to offer the existing squad the chance to move over from the club’s legendary amateur status, added: “For most of our players it will be the first time they have played there. It will be a great occasion and I want them to enjoy it. “It will be difficult to win through as Kilmarnock are a Premiership side who are sitting just outside the top six. I would like us to give a good account of ourselves but having been part of a team that won there before without playing well I would take that a second time.”
Mckinnon has led his side to two victories since coming on board at the start of 2020 and he said: “It is great to be in the fourth round but I am not sure if this is the best game for us after our recent results.
“We are trying to build momentum and get wins that will take us up our league.
“On the other hand, I will learn a lot about the discipline of the players and what concentration levels they have as they will be tested throughout the game.
“Having won our last couple of games I do not think that I will change too much. We will go out with the intention of being hard to beat and see what happens.”