KILLIE ARE FIT FOR PURPOSE
All-action display from Armstrong shows spirit needed to take points
BY the end of a hugely satisfying afternoon for Kilmarnock, it was little wonder Danny Armstrong was grinning from ear to ear. Perhaps more than any other player, it was Armstrong who typified Kilmarnock’s resilience on a day when they finally got their season up and running.
Playing on the right side of midfield, and apparently immune to fatigue, he gave his team a sense of energy and purpose.
Stephen O’Donnell, the Motherwell skipper and Scotland defender who was playing at left-back, would have been glad to see the back of him.
Returning to his old stomping ground at Rugby Park, it was O’Donnell’s mistake which allowed Armstrong to pounce and net the equaliser in 71 minutes.
When Armstrong was subbed off in the closing stages, it was to a standing ovation. He had been Killie’s best player as they came from behind to claim a first league win of the season.
Yet, it was anything but straightforward for Derek McInnes’ side. This was an afternoon when their profligacy looked like it might cost them.
Prior to Armstrong’s intervention, Motherwell keeper Liam Kelly wouldn’t have had a speck of dirt on his gloves. At that point, Killie had 14 shots at goal but none of them were on target.
Impressively, they stuck at it and found a way to win. McInnes said afterwards he felt they ‘looked like a Premiership team’ and that he had wanted his players to ‘trample over’ Motherwell.
That view was echoed by Armstrong, who claimed that Killie’s superior fitness levels eventually told as they overpowered Motherwell towards the end.
‘We’re a very fit bunch,’ said the 24-year-old winger. ‘Even in training, you can tell. There’s still a few boys to come back from injury and help us, too.
‘I think we looked a lot fitter than them (Motherwell) over the 90 minutes. In the end, that showed. We kind of ran over the top of them in the second half.
‘It’s really good to get the first league win of the season. The lads were happy afterwards in the dressing room.
‘I felt we deserved it. It obviously wasn’t a great goal to concede from our point of view when Motherwell took the lead.
‘But, after that, I felt we were the better team throughout the full game. We spoke about that at half-time.
‘We knew there’s no point in being the better team and having nothing to show for it at the end. We knew we needed to go and actually win the game. So we’re delighted to get the three points.
‘We were bang at it. Yeah, it was a shaky start when we conceded the goal. But we were by far the better team after that and deserved to win.
‘Even at half-time, we all felt like a goal was coming for us. The gaffer said at half-time to just keep doing what we were doing.
‘We had a good few chances in the first half, we were creating, and we hit the bar at one point as well.
‘The second half was similar. We missed a few chances, myself included, but we kept going and eventually got our rewards.
‘Once the equaliser came, I always felt like we were going to go on and get the winner.’
Motherwell were chasing a third straight win under new boss Steven Hammell and started the better of the two teams.
When Kevin van Veen put them 1-0 ahead in 15 minutes, it was no less than they deserved. But the goal owed to a brilliant assist from Blair Spittal.
Spittal split the Killie defence wide open with an exquisite through ball which Van Veen then raced on to and clipped a beautiful finish past Sam Walker.
Killie blew a number of great chances. Kyle Lafferty twice shot over the bar from inside the area in the first half, with his strike partner Oli Shaw then doing likewise in the second half.
On the missed chances from Lafferty, Armstrong joked: ‘We need to get him up and running! He had a good few chances, but he knows that himself. Once he gets one goal, they’ll start flying in for him. He’s proved that a number of times over the years.’
But Armstrong came to the rescue when, after the ball had rebounded off O’Donnell, he pounced to slot it past Kelly.
That set the stage for Ash Taylor to bullet in a header five minutes later to complete the turnaround and give Killie a hard-earned three points. They now face a trip to Tynecastle on Wednesday night in the Premier Sports Cup, with Armstrong saying: ‘It’s good to get the first win under the belt and hopefully this can be a springboard now to get lots more.
‘We’ve had a tough run of games at the start of the season. We’ve done well in most of the games, but you need wins to show for it.
‘That was a big message for us at half-time. It’s all well and good being the better team. You need to get the win to show for it. Thankfully we got that today.’
Motherwell defender Ricki Lamie insisted his team need to tighten up ahead of a cup clash with Inverness in midweek before facing Dundee United next weekend.
‘It’s a painful one any time you go away from home and throw away a lead and not even come away with a point,’ he said.
‘The manner of the goals we conceded was painful too, with the second one from a set-piece.
‘This is a massive week. It’s not the best start but we have a couple more games to put it right.’
KILMARNOCK (4-4-2): Walker 7; Alebiosu 7, Taylor 7, Mayo 6, Chrisene 7; Armstrong 8 (Donnelly 85), Power 7, Polworth 7, McInroy 7 (McKenzie 64); Shaw 5 (Murray 64), Lafferty 6 (Cameron 76). Subs not
used: Woods, Lyons, Stokes, Wright, Sotona. Booked: Armstrong, Power.
MOTHERWELL (4-3-3): Kelly 7; P McGinn 6, Solholm Johansen 5, Lamie 6, O’Donnell 6; Slattery 7 (Tierney 74), Goss 7, Cornelius 6 (Norris 58); Shields 7 (Efford 58), Van Veen 7, Spittal 7 (Maguire 74). Subs not used: Oxborough, Mugabi, Johnston, Penney, Miller. Booked: O’Donnell.
Man of the match: Danny Armstrong. Referee: Euan Anderson. Att: 6,238.