Delighted Alessio desires hard work and better play
KILMARNOCK 2
Dicker (39), McKenzie (56)
LIVINGSTON 1
Miller (84)
Football fans can be so fickle. When Killie lost three games in succession back in August (including the calamitous Europa League elimination by Connah’s Quay Nomads), the Rugby Park regulars were convinced that Angelo Alessio was not fit to lace predecessor Steve Clarke’s boots.
Last night, though, they lustily chanted his name as the final whistle signalled a fourth win in five Premiership games that lifted them up to fifth place in the table.
The Italian has been around long enough not to get too carried away with positive or negative outcomes and his delight yesterday was qualified.
“I am happy because we deserved to win the match,” he said. “We suffered for the first 30 minutes and we needed Gary Dicker’s opening goal – that was important for us.
“We were much better in the second half and scored another goal, although we had a worry at the end because Livingston are very physical and they work hard on throw-ins and corners.
“The big disappointment was not that we didn’t keep another clean sheet but that we gave them such a cheap goal. If we had been more focused, we wouldn’t have conceded.
“Everyone was pleased at the end because we won, but we need to work harder in training because I believe we can play better than this.
“I am pleased with the progress we have made but we can improve further and we need to do that because there were a lot of mistakes made today, especially in the first 30 minutes. Not just by certain players but by everyone.
“We can do better than that and we have to continue doing that because every game is tough.”
Some pundits called for Livingston striker Lyndon Dykes to be called up by Scotland on the back of one decent game against Celtic but the big Australian squandered a tremendous chance inside the opening 30 seconds here.
Alan Power either over-hit a pass-back for Stephen O’Donnell or under-hit one for Laurentiu Branescu – either way it fell perfectly for Dykes, who was left with only the keeper to beat.
Unfortunately for the Lions, he took too long to get the ball out from under his feet and Stuart Findlay was able to snuff out the danger.
At the other end, Eamonn Brophy wanted a penalty when he hit the deck after brushing against Ricki Lamie but he looked lucky to escape a yellow card for throwing himself to the plastic.
It was a drab affair but the long-suffering home punters finally had a goal to cheer when skipper Dicker drew first blood six minutes before half-time.
When Lamie did eventually bring Brophy down, Chris Burke’s free-kick was helped on for Dicker, lurking unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box and the Irishman drilled an unstoppable shot behind Matija Sarkic.
Rory McKenzie claimed Killie’s second 11 minutes into the second half, although his shot – which came when a blocked effort from Brophy spun into his path – was deflected behind Sarkic by Nicky Devlin.
That forced Livi to chase the game and they finally began to create openings.
Substitute Lee Miller teed up Marvin Bartley, whose piledriver was beaten away by Branescu and Bartley then saw his header from Alan Lithgow’s long throw beat the keeper but smack off the crossbar.
Their late rally saw them pull one back when Devlin’s low cross was forced home by Miller, which meant a nervous seven final minutes before Kilmarnock claimed all three points.