Killie survive the siege to win war of attrition over misfiring Hibs
RUGBY PARK erupted on the final whistle. What a huge win this was for Derek McInnes and Kilmarnock — and yet another painful blow for Lee Johnson and Hibs. In this unrelenting slog between two teams struggling for form it was the home side who came out top, thanks to a Danny Armstrong penalty and a home defence that somehow kept Hibs at bay.
The visitors laid siege to Kilmarnock’s goal at the death, with Johnson slapping the ground in disgust as the ball bobbled around Sam Walker’s six-yard line while refusing to enter the net. On their second-half pressure alone Hibs probably deserved an equaliser, but this, a sixth defeat in their last seven league outings, spoke again of the ills currently invading Easter Road. Johnson is surely fighting to remain in his job.
McInnes entered this game in similar distress — three losses in a row, including that midweek filleting at Tannadice — but his team answered his call to stand tall and be mentally strong in the battle. By the closing minutes an entire regiment of Kilmarnock players were on defensive duty as Hibs threw everything at them. With seconds remaining a Harry McKirdy shot flew over Walker’s bar, and with it, Hibs’ fate was sealed.
The game swung on a VAR intervention — Marijan Cabraja’s foul on Liam Polworth was deemed to be inside the box — and Armstrong stroked the ball home.
The midweek 4-0 loss to Dundee United had clearly wounded McInnes, who spoke with relief afterwards about this win.
‘It had been a tough couple of days and we spoke to the players on Thursday about how hard we had fought to get here to play in the Premiership,’ said the Kilmarnock manager. ‘We needed a life about us today and a passion that had been sadly missing in midweek.
‘You were looking at two teams not in the greatest of form — so the play out there was a bit nervy and disjointed. But we kept the crowd involved — I thought they were brilliant with us — and we dealt with Hibs throwing extra forwards on.
‘We’ve got a lot to improve on but 1-0 victories are the bedrock of any season — they are worth their weight in gold. We won this game because we showed a lot of personality, a lot of spirit, and we had a lot of good performers.’
For Johnson, it was another bitter setback, and the Hibs boss apportioned blame on Cabraja for the tackle which resulted in the penalty. But the Hibs manager is now under serious pressure going into the World Cup break.
‘Marijan thought there was nowhere near enough contact for someone to go down and the VAR deemed it inside the box which is disappointing,’ he said. ‘It’s a poor decision from Marijan, to even attempt to make contact. It’s just basic defending.
‘I thought the fans were great and I am desperate to do well for them. We’re still only three points off third, and I think that shows how tight and compact the league is.
‘But it’s clear for us there’s a quality issue in the final third. How many times did we get into the Kilmarnock box, waiting for a green sock to turn up in the middle of the goal to smack the ball home?’
Johnson (below) also bemoaned again his lengthy injury list. ‘We’ve got a break now, and there is an awful lot of quality not in this team — Nisbet, Doyle-Hayes, Boyle,
McGeady, Magennis — those types. That’s a lot of players who can unlock a door and that’s been the most frustrating thing.’
McInnes made plain his disgust with his team’s midweek Tayside collapse — the Killie manager rang seven changes to his starting line-up, including the restoration of captain, Alan Power.
For such a tense occasion, the game was open and free-flowing to a degree, and McInnes and Killie certainly breathed a sigh of relief after 26 minutes when VAR ruled out a Hibs opener for offside. The home defence had been sliced open in a clever Hibs move but Elias Melkersen had already strayed offside before Mykola Kukharevych calmly stroked the ball home.
Killie were struggling to impose themselves on Hibs, for whom Ryan Porteous and Paul Hanlon were robust, and were limited over the opening 45 minutes to slinging crosses into the box, gaining not a lot.
Hibs finally created two concrete chances from which to open the scoring — and within 60 seconds of each other. First, Melkersen took too long to pull the trigger inside the Kilmarnock box, allowing the shot to be blocked, and then, from the resulting corner, Hanlon missed a glorious headed opportunity from just six yards out.
Hibs would sorely regret these misses, because Killie stormed straight up the park to open the scoring. From the counter-attack, Polworth was tripped seemingly just outside the box by Cabraja. Yet VAR intervened, took around three minutes to study the footage, and duly instructed the referee, David Dickinson, to award the penalty. Armstrong calmly shot home.
Hibs began to throw themselves at Kilmarnock. A Melkersen overhead kick flew just over, and Walker in the home goal was left flapping more than once at crosses.
Sub Ewan Henderson slashed a shot wide when it appeared easier to hit the target, while balls aplenty were arriving right in front of Walker, whose goal began to lead a charmed life. Yet Hibs simply lacked the guile to unpick the Kilmarnock lock. It has become a very familiar problem.