Fans taunt crumbling Killie as Raith romp to victory
Lots of possession, lots of chances but an afternoon that ended in defeat with jeers ringing around the stadium; it all sounds familiar for Kilmarnock.
The Rugby Park side have had a strong start to life in the Championship but the failure to kill off a game when firmly in the ascendancy is something that continues to haunt Tommy Wright’s side.
Having lost a first-half goal to Raith Rovers when Liam Dick was allowed to meet an Ethon Varian cross at the back post and steer his header into the back of the net, Kilmarnock struggled to break down the resolute Kirkcaldy side.
They had to wait until the arrival of Callum Hendry, on loan from St Johnstone, who came off the bench to head them on to level terms.
It looked then as though Kilmarnock would turn the screw on their visitors yet two cheap goals were their undoing as they chased the goal that would have given them the three points.
On-loan Livingston forward Matej Poplatnik claimed a late brace after his own super-sub story as he first of all got a fortuitous break from a long Jamie Macdonald punt up the pitch before turning the ball past Zach Hemmings and then, in the final seconds of added time, he added another after a quick break from Reghan Tumilty had teed him up.
The defeat leaves Killie three points off Inverness, who missed out on the
chance to push further ahead after
their defeat to Hamilton while Raith Rovers are just two points away from the Rugby Park side.
“Fans can boo if they want,” said Wright. “If they don’t recognise that we did enough to win the game then that isn’t anything that I can do something about.
“They have been good here. They realise the importance of them staying behind us but we didn’t give them enough in the first half.
“When you make mistakes – and they did get a great deal of luck with their second goal – that is the danger.
“We shot ourselves in the foot. A deep cross for the first goal, a punt down the field for the second and the third goal – well, it is easy to say it is irrelevant, but it is the last kick of the ball when we were caught on the counter.
“I don’t think Zach had a save to make and yet we end up losing 3-1 because we don’t start as a team.
“At 1-1 it looked as if there was only going to be one winner.”
Raith Rovers manager John Mcglynn was delighted with the way
the afternoon panned out and praised his players for keeping their heads after Killie’s leveller. He said: “The way we set up we knew we had to be organised because we knew they would come at us in the second half.
“And we had Jamie Macdonald to thank for keeping us in the game at times.
“But when it went to 1-1 we kept our nerve.
“We showed great character not to buckle then, when Kilmarnock expected to go on and win the game.
“We knew we were going to have to absorb pressure so we knew we had to be well-organised and we knew we had to be talking and defending well as a team.”