PAYING PENALTY
Broadfoot left aghast after two spot-kick controversies help to give Hibs the points
THE body language itself seemed to tell a story. With the game in stoppage-time and Kilmarnock behind the eight ball having conceded a questionable penalty and been denied one themselves, their captain Kirk Broadfoot limped around the centre of the park, arms waving furiously, trying in vain to show referee John Beaton an injury sustained to his right ankle.
Anger, desperation, frustration — call it what you will — seeped from every pore.
The Rugby Park club already have a bee in their bonnet after being carpeted by the SFA for remarks made over the sending-off of Gary Dicker in a 1-0 loss to Hearts and the failure to overturn it on appeal. Events yesterday will only heighten their collective unhappiness.
With 12 minutes to play and a terrific game tied at 2-2 after goals from Eamonn Brophy and Greg Stewart had cancelled out strikes from Hibs pair Stevie Mallan and David Gray, Broadfoot was adjudged to have caught substitute Jamie Maclaren inside the area when attempting to clear.
His reaction was immediate. He pleaded innocence. To no avail. The penalty was given and Florian Kamberi smashed it low to goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald’s right-hand side to deliver a welcome win for the Easter Road club after the disappointment of defeat to newly-promoted Livingston before the international break.
By the end, Broadfoot would look ready to combust.
In time added on, he went for the ball with Efe Ambrose in the Hibs box as Killie pushed hard for a leveller. He was absolutely insistent he was caught by the defender.
It certainly looked like it. Even home manager Neil Lennon admitted a penalty could have been given.
Beaton, though, waved play on and had to fend off fierce complaints from a number of players including Kris Boyd and Jordan Jones after the final whistle.
Requests to speak to Broadfoot were turned down post-match, probably because he was still frothing at the mouth and speaking in tongues, but manager Steve Clarke gave an adequate insight into the mood in his dressing room.
‘There was contact in the box on Kirk and I think, if it’s a day for soft penalties, then it should have been one each,’ stated the Rugby Park boss.
‘If you watch back the Hibs penalty, you’ll see that Maclaren actually kicks Kirk on the back of the foot. How that can be a penalty I’m not sure.
‘We should have got something from the game. I was quietly fuming afterwards because we let a decent situation slip away. We feel really hard done by.’
Indeed, Killie even believe the free-kick that led to the opener on 12 minutes was a miscarriage of justice.
Beaton brought back the play for an Aaron Tshibola foul on Martin Boyle, Mallan took aim from 25 yards and conjured up a fantastic outswinging free-kick that beat MacDonald to his right.
‘I had a discussion with the referee and told him I thought I got the ball,’ said Tshibola afterwards.
‘The ball was deflected when he had the shot and then changed direction.’
When Gray made it 2-0 with a great header from a Mallan corner, it looked like this might lack some of the intense competitiveness of previous encounters — there have now been 22 goals in the last five meetings between these sides — but there is a strength within Kilmarnock along with an increasing desire to play with style.
Their route back into the game came when an excellent passing move resulted in Scotland full-back Stephen O’Donnell putting a splendid low ball into the penalty area from the right.
Brophy got himself in ahead of Daryl Horgan and his deft, first-time finish from an angle was a delight.
Brophy has become such a rounded attacker under Clarke and it is lovely to see Stewart back performing well beside him.
The former Dundee man had a torrid time at Aberdeen last term. He turned up in the Granite City out of shape and never quite caught up. This was always likely to be a defining campaign for him at the age of 28 and so far, so good.
He was sharp and alert from the off in this one and followed up his goal in a fine win at Pittodrie at the start of the month with a pearler from 25 yards after some excellent possession play from the Ayrshire side as a whole.
It was almost inevitable that the second period was not able to contain the tempo and breathlessness of the first. Hibs pushed the hardest, though, and got their reward in the end.
‘Our penalty was a penalty,’ insisted home manager Lennon afterwards.
‘The defender is on the wrong side of Jamie and he’s come across him and been clever.
‘It possibly was a penalty (for Kilmarnock), but I’m not sure there was enough contact there.
‘Maybe Kirk kicked Efe rather than Efe kicking him, but I would understand if Kilmarnock have a grievance because it could have gone either way.’