LAFFERTY HAS BROUGHT THE LAUGHS BACK
Kyle lafferty may not be anyone’s idea of a model professional — but he’s proved to be the perfect fit for Kilmarnock. tommy Wright, who brought him to rugby Park last month after he had been released by Serie B reggina, describes him as ‘a nightmare to manage’, but you just know he probably wouldn’t swap him for Cristiano ronaldo.
Killie are his 13th club in as many years, but if they manage to retain their top-tier status for a 29th consecutive season then the 33-year-old nomad will be chiefly responsible for their survival.
Consider this: under, first, alex Dyer and then Wright, the ayrshire club had lost eight consecutive games, finding the net only twice during that period.
yet, in the three matches he has subsequently started, lafferty has scored three times and also provided three assists. More importantly, he has helped them earn the four points which have moved them off the foot of the table. He opened the scoring here with a speculative 20-yarder, which goalkeeper liam Kelly should have kept out.
after Barry Maguire had quickly equalised for the visitors, lafferty’s determination to get on the scoresheet again proved crucial when they regained the lead.
another long-range effort from an unpromising angle ricocheted off a defender and rory McKenzie pounced on the loose ball to score.
‘you know lafferty is going to shoot every opportunity he gets, so you have to gamble,’ said McKenzie. ‘I’m happy I’ve been able to score and we got the win.’
Chris Burke’s venomous drive from a Mitch Pinnock cross gave the hosts breathing space before lafferty’s volleyed pass allowed Pinnock to play Paul Gascoigne to tyler Magloire’s Colin Hendry before the midfielder beat Kelly with a sumptuous finish.
‘Kyle has so much quality,’ McKenzie added. ‘He can hold the ball up, score from anywhere and he’s added so much to the team. He might be the difference for us.
‘He’s so big but also so good on the ball. He can win it in the air but you also see the way he brings it down on his chest. He’s a handful.’
lafferty was the talisman as Northern Ireland reached the finals of euro 2016 — and McKenzie claims his antics off the park are aiding his current team-mates just as much as his efforts on it.
‘He’s added that extra something,’ he said.
‘What does he do? Nothing that can be repeated! I’ve met a few like him but he’s wild.
‘It genuinely has helped, though. He’s like a wee cheeky schoolkid. He gets away with things but he’s funny and brings everyone into it.
‘at a time when we’ve been down he’s been a good person to have around and he’s helped to lift the spirits.’
Motherwell supporters will wonder what difference Scotland centre-back Declan Gallagher, who was an unused substitute, might have made if he had been facing lafferty rather than ricki lamie and Magloire.
But his international team-mate Stephen O’Donnell believes that the award of a penalty from referee alan Muir when he was sent sprawling by Brandon Haunstrup late in the first half might have been a sliding-doors moment.
‘I don’t dive particularly well,’ said O’Donnell. ‘In fact, I’m not a diver, I don’t know how to do it. I’ve never been taught how to throw myself to the ground.
‘If we go in 2-1 up at the interval it’s a different story but these things happen and games change on decisions like that.’