Staggies’ late show doesn’t dull Killie shine
The first thing you should do is forget about the scoreline.
Killie won this by the length of the M77 and the two late goals they conceded were lost while they wound down with a view to Tuesday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at home to faltering Aberdeen.
Certainly, manager Steve Clarke was unperturbed by the late drama, choosing to emphasise the superiority his team displayed for the vast majority of this encounter.
“I’d rather concentrate on the first 86 minutes because I thought we were excellent,” he said. “We lost concentration in the last few minutes and, if that happens at any level, then you tend to get punished.
“Results on Friday and today have gone for us and it’s beginning to look as though we might sneak into the top six, but we’re keeping our feet on the ground. There are still points to play for before the split and we’ll continue to respect every one of our opponents.”
Killie were on the front foot from the first whistle and should have taken the lead in the ninth minute when Stephen O’Donnell burst to the byline and pulled the ball back for Lee Erwin.
However, the striker scuffed his shot from 15 yards and Aaron McCarey was able to push it to safety.
But he made no mistake seven minutes later. O’Donnell made another lung-bursting run to reach Greg Kiltie’s pass and, when he chipped the ball into the danger area, Erwin timed his run perfectly to force it home from six yards.
David Keillor-Dunn was furious with referee John Beaton when he failed to award him a spot-kick following a tussle with Kirk Broadfoot, but the wide boy was lucky to escape a booking for diving.
Broadfoot, though, was yellow-carded soon after for taking out Michael Gardyne.
O’Donnell then put one on a plate for Aaron Tshibola only for the Aston Villa loanee to head over from point-blank range, while McCarey did well to turn over a McKenzie piledriver from 25 yards.
It was one-way traffic and the home side secured the second goal that their pressure merited immediately after the restart.
Kiltie supplied substitute Aaron Simpson on the left flank, his cross found Kris Boyd six yards out and the former Scotland striker took a touch before lashing home his 19th goal of the campaign.
It took a brave, smothering save from McCarey to deny him his 20th as he latched on to Erwin’s through ball.
County’s tiny travelling support probably heaved a sigh of relief when Boyd was subbed by Eamonn Brophy, but, within two minutes, the former Hamilton star celebrated his 22nd birthday by notching Killie’s third. He attempted to set up Rory McKenzie, but the ball broke back to him and he drove it high past McCarey from a tight angle.
The hosts lost Greg Taylor to a dead leg, but he should be available for the Dons tie and Northern Ireland winger Jordan Jones will receive treatment round the clock on his hamstring injury.
At that point, no-one would have predicted that the hosts would need their three-goal cushion, but slack play by Aaron Tshibola allowed Billy McKay to pull one back with a deft chip over Jamie MacDonald and, in the dying seconds, Alex Schalk converted an inviting cross from Michael Gardyne. But it was too little too late for County, who remain marooned at the foot, seven points away from safety.