Double from ton-up Kiltie puts boss Dyer in seventh heaven
Killie manager Alex Dyer applauded the belief in his squad after a Greg Kiltie brace took them into seventh in the league and consolidated their recent revival.
The Rugby Park side were comfortable winners against a depleted Hamilton side with a goal in each half that now takes their tally to seven points from the last nine available to them.
And Dyer has insisted that there was no lack of confidence from the dressing room after the run last month when they went on a sequence of five straight defeats that was in danger of dragging them into the relegation mix.
“What happens in that changing room is the most important thing,” said Dyer. “They have never doubted me and I have never doubted them. We work hard and it is about staying together and believing in what we want to achieve.”
Kiltie, playing off Danny Whitehall up front in his 100th league game for Killie, was excellent throughout and dispelled any lingering chat about Eamonn Brophy’s departure to St Mirren.
Kiltie is out of contract at the end of the season but Dyer has dismissed any chat of looking at new deals for any player until he knows for sure that the Rugby Park side are moving in the right direction.
“A lot of players’ contracts are up in the summer. Once we know where we are as a club, then we will sort it out, but I won’t be giving anyone deals,” he said. “They have to wait, to dig in and see where we finish.”
Kiltie set the tone for this game in the early stages when he dragged one effort wide of the target but there was a menace about his display in the entirety of the 90 minutes with Accies struggling to find any kind of foothold.
There was a rare glimpse of hope for the visitors when Hakeen Odoffin battered a header off the crossbar just before Kilmarnock opened the scoring but it was a rare chance in a game in which Killie had a firm grip of throughout.
It was a scrappy opener that was the first of the afternoon for Kiltie when Youssouf Mulumbu’s shot nicked off him, wrongfooted Kyle Gourlay and ended up in the back of the net.
There were no question marks about the second, however, as Kiltie collected from Brandon
Haunstrup and curled a fine effort into the far left-hand corner. If Kilmarnock were enthused with the finish – Kiltie’s first brace since 2016 – Accies will have been far less impressed given the manner in which he was able to carve out so much time and space in the box.
Rory Mckenzie looked to add a third for the Ayrshire side with an effort that went over the bar but there was no hint of Accies forcing themselves back into the game.
“We were comfortable all afternoon,” enthused Dyer. “Kiltie was excellent. He was brilliant and that triggered everyone else off. They all worked extremely well, showed good quality, passed the ball extremely well and to be fair they couldn’t live with us today.
“Greg has been good all season. Long may that continue.
“Eamonn has gone now. I had a text from him this morning. I wish him all the best so hopefully we can push on and put that one to bed.”
Dyer wouldn’t commit to whether Brophy’s departure will mean new arrivals to the club – “you’ll have to ask the board that” – but the suggestion is that it will be unlikely to see new faces.
He said: “If there is someone out there I really need, I know they would manage to get it done. But, at this present time, I will work with what I have got because what I have got is good enough.”