Lafferty hits treble in ruthless Killie win over Warriors

KILMARNOCK put their Premiership struggles aside as a Kyle Lafferty hat-trick helped book their place in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup after a one-sided clash at Ochilview.

Tommy Wright’s team dominated from start to finish against a Stenhousemuir side who never looked likely to rise to the role of giant-killers.

The delighted Killie boss said: ‘It was a good performance.

‘We had drilled it into the players all week that their attitude had to be right and it was easy from the first whistle to the last. We played on the front foot and we played with a lot of tempo and made them work extremely hard.’

The Rugby Park men enjoyed the bulk of the early pressure with Lafferty forcing goalkeeper Paddy Martin into a smart save and Kirk Broadfoot heading narrowly wide.

Mitch Pinnock almost put the Premiership strugglers ahead but his angled drive flashed inches wide.

The opener came in controversial fashion when Lafferty (right) went down in the box following an innocuous challenge from Jonathan Tiffoney and referee Greg Aitken enraged the home side by pointing to the spot.

Lafferty dusted himself down before drilling the penalty low into the net.

The Northern Ireland striker doubled the lead before the break with a clinical 14-yard finish following a cross from Rory McKenzie.

Lafferty completed his hat-trick in the second half when Chris Burke’s driving run and cross left him with a tap-in. George Oakley, on for Lafferty, fastened onto a through ball from Aaron Tshibola and calmly beat Martin for the fourth. Wright added: ‘That is why we brought him (Lafferty) in. I do believe we have players at the club who can be creative and get us into good positions. We just needed someone to come in and finish those off.

‘It is good for George as well. His goal was well-taken, too. The two strikers on the park for us did well and the hat-trick will give Kyle even more confidence than he already has.’

Warriors boss Davie Irons was sent to the stand for protesting after Callum Yeats went down in the Killie box only for Aitken to book the Stenny player for a dive.

Irons said: ‘He wouldn’t speak to me. It’s obvious I will be in bother. ‘All I was showing was a bit of emotion. It was a stonewall penalty, the boy had been tripped. I’m not getting away from the fact Killie were the better side.’