McKenzie magic icing on the top of massive victory
RORY McKENZIE watched the ball leave his boot and swirl beautifully into the top corner against Dundee United and later admitted it was among the best goals he had scored.
The Kilmarnock midfielder sprung from the bench to bag an early contender for goal of the season as the Ayrshire men ran riot in a rampant first win of the season.
Nicke Kabamba and Eamonn Brophy struck the other three goals but anyone leaving Rugby Park could only talk about the fourth, the cherry atop the cake.
For McKenzie, though, planting a delicious chip into the postage stamp was not his first instinct. It all happened so fast.
“I didn’t think right away about chipping it but [ Greg] Kiltie just played it the perfect weight,” he said. “The pace it was rolled at. The last thing they were probably expecting was a wee dink into the other corner.
“I was actually still a wee bit stiff from just coming on so I decided to rest the legs and not hit it too hard. It turned out all right. They don’t actually come off that often. I’m just happy it did.
“As soon as it happened, Kiltie told me that he knew it was in the second it left my toe. He was in line with the goalie. Just seeing it hit the back of the net was a good way to round off the day. It was nice to see people standing up to applaud. A few of the injured lads were sitting down the bottom and I don’t think they expected it from me. I’ll need to have a word them.
“It’s as good a goal as I’ve scored. It’s all very well doing that kind of thing when you are 3- 0 up. I’m not so sure I’d have tried it at 0- 0.”
Dundee United would be frustrated with their afternoon, especially considering their impressive beginning to the Premiership season.
The Tangerines rocked up in Ayrshire with an attacking mind- set and went for an early goal. Chances fell to Mark Connolly and Logan Chalmers but it was Killie who stormed up the other end to open the scoring. Calum Walters’ inchperfect cross was powered into the net by Kabamba.
The hosts had a second just before half- time when Brophy scuffed the ball beyond Benjamin Siegrist.
And, despite United’s best efforts after the restart, Kabamba netted again following some lackadaisical defending from Connolly. The rout was completed by McKenzie’s stunner and his side are finally off the mark with a win.
“It’s just massive. It’s easy to say this but we have been playing well,” he said. “In a few of the games we’ve given away stupid goals. I think our play deserved a result like that. It’s strange. Even in the Steve Clarke days, sometimes
it wasn’t pretty and we got lots of plaudits. A lot of the time it wasn’t nice and we ground out wins. We’ve been playing nice football this year but hadn’t been getting the wins.”
United were again without top striker Lawrence Shankland through injury, and his goal scoring ability was clearly missed up top.
Defender Mark Reynolds
acknowledged his own side’s profligacy and insisted they must make more of their opportunities when they come around in front of goal, because they will continue being punished at the other end if they don’t.
“You’re always going to miss Shanks,” he said. “We’ve done well, the boys who have come in to step up and done well. These
games are going to happen and we need to learn from it.
“Maybe last season in the Championship we got away with a couple decisions you make and don’t get punished, but you’re not going to get away with that at this level. We’ll go learn from that but we’re hugely disappointed.
“We spoke about needing to be more clinical. It’s not
just about having the ball, it’s about having the ball and penetrating when we got into their half, like Kilmarnock did, when they got a couple halfchances, they took them and punished us.
“We’re still learning that, we’re still getting used to realising at this level a halfchance is a real good chance and we need to take them.”