McGhee’s men have the measure of Killie’s ploy
HOW ironic that Kilmarnock should be picked apart by two wingers on the day the club debuted its newlynarrowed playing surface.
Having gutted his playing squad, Killie manager Lee Clark sanctioned a smaller playing area for the new league season, presumably with the intention of stifling their opponents’ creativity.
Yet the three Motherwell midfielders operating behind Scott McDonald had a field day, with Lionel Ainsworth showing remarkable pace and technique to score the game’s delightful first goal.
And Marvin Johnson climbed high to head what proved to be the winner from Chris Cadden’s cross just seconds after half-time.
This wasn’t quite Rugby Park misery on the scale of the 4-0 reverse to Dundee on last year’s opening day and the late attempted fight back sparked by Martin Smith’s consolation even led to some applause from the notoriously grumpy natives at the end.
That marked a sea-change in attitude, for the game had been peppered by the usual howls of anguish from the stands and the absence of Northern Ireland internationalist Josh Magennis, a Euro 2016 star over the summer, only added to the gloom.
Afterwards, Clark was able to report good news on his star player. He said: ‘We’ve had three or four bids and enquiries over the last few days. We decided to give Josh yesterday and today off — I know if I had been in his position I wouldn’t have been in the right frame of mind to play.
‘Thankfully, that has worked in our favour. The board spoke to Josh during the game and he has confirmed that he is happy to come back and he will be involved against Hamilton next weekend.’
While Clark had been facing up to life without Magennis, there was a place in the Motherwell team for Johnson, himself the subject of a hostile bid from League One side Oxford United last week.
The 24-year-old netted three goals in the Betfred Cup and his header displayed a new facet to his game.
‘That was a centre-forward’s header,’ said Motherwell manager Mark McGhee. ‘It could have been Les Ferdinand in there. Kris Boyd would have been proud of that. He is scoring in every game at the moment. We have an idea of what he is worth and that doesn’t necessarily inflate his value.’
While Clark has decreed that the playing surface was too big for the type of football his team wants to play, perhaps a part of the former Blackpool boss has been hankering after a bigger technical area.
Before we’d reached the 10-minute mark he had been sent to the stand by referee Craig Thomson, for quickly exhausting fourth official Gavin Ross’s patience as they debated his excursions from the coaches’ zone.
‘Apparently that was for foul and abusive language,’ explained Clark. ‘I don’t know if that was supposed to have been directed at an official but I will refute that 100 per cent.’
Clark’s new seat in the stand afforded him a perfect view of Ainsworth’s goal, which he later graciously described as ‘exquisite’.
McDonald rolled a first-time pass in behind Will Boyle who was emphatically beaten for pace.
Ainsworth had thinking time and used it to measure a sublime chip over the head of Jamie MacDonald.
Just 26 seconds after the break, Johnson executed his header and the Steelmen looked safe.
There was an ugly, blood-spattered incident soon after where Carl McHugh clashed heads with Killie’s Dean Hawkshaw, with both players unable to continue.
Smith ensured a fairly frantic end to the match as he ghosted in to the box to head in Greg Taylor’s cross and new man Souleymane Coulibaly held his head in disbelief as his appeals for a penalty under the attentions of Motherwell stopper Ben Heneghan resulted in a freekick the other way.
‘I think there could have been a penalty at the other end, too, so that has balanced itself out,’ said McGhee. ‘I thought we deserved to win.’
Clark added that the change in pitch dimensions had been planned since the end of last season: ‘I informed the board two or three days after the Falkirk (play-off) game that I wanted to do this. It wasn’t done to stifle Motherwell or anything like that. I think it will help our play throughout the season.’