Vassell starts the party as Killie seal fourth
IF the scenes which greeted the full-time whistle in Paisley are anything to go by, Kilmarnock supporters’ summer party is already in full swing.
Kyle Vassell’s goal just before the interval was enough to seal the win Derek McInnes’ men required to secure a fourth-place Premiership finish and, with it, the priceless reward of a spot in next season’s Europa League qualifiers.
It’s quite a turnaround for a side who were involved in a scrap for their top-flight survival just 12 months ago.
Little wonder, then, McInnes was grinning from ear to ear post-match as he heaped praise on his players for getting the job done. ‘The support look at this team and, like me, they have total trust in them,’ he said.
‘There’s no flaky ones that you don’t know what you’re going to get, none who go under the radar when the pressure comes — they stand and do their job.’
On the celebrations, he added: ‘I saw Corrie Ndaba and he’s got the moves that I don’t have!
‘It was good to have that moment with the players.’
On a glorious afternoon at the SMiSA Stadium, it was St Mirren who created the first opportunity, Toyosi Olusanya blasting over from inside the area after running on to a Mikael Mandron flick-on.
An uncharacteristic slip by Alex Gogic on the half-hour mark presented Killie’s Marley Watkins with a rare sight of goal, but the Welshman couldn’t capitalise, dragging his left-foot effort wide of the target.
It was the spark the visitors needed to click into gear, and they soon found themselves in front.
Watkins showed Gogic a clean pair of heels as he raced down the right before picking out Vassell at the back post. The Killie captain was calmness personified, taking a touch then firing high into the net for his 11th of the season.
The Buddies had goalkeeper Zach Hemming to thank for keeping them in the contest after the break, pulling off a fine double stop in quick succession, first thwarting Watkins before tipping Robbie Deas’ header over from the resulting corner.
Olusanya had his head in his hands — not for the first time — after seeing his rasping drive from the edge of the area clip the crossbar on its way behind as the Paisley side upped the ante with 15 minutes remaining. It was to be as close as the hosts would come.
St Mirren may yet clinch European football for themselves before the visit of Hearts on Wednesday, with Dundee needing three points against Rangers 24 hours earlier to stay in the hunt.
‘We want to do it ourselves,’ insisted Buddies manager Stephen Robinson. ‘We’ve had two or three opportunities here in front of sold-out crowds and haven’t quite got the result, but we don’t want to rely on any other result.’