Killie make light work of power cut to surge to second
The lights went out at Rugby Park yesterday – not once, but twice!
In the end, though, the successive delays only contrived to leave Killie’s name shining even brighter in second place in the Premiership table come full time.
Remarkably, Steve Clarke’s men had gone into this game having won just one of their past 13 Premiership matches against Hibs.
That’s an astonishing number given their success against all the other teams under this manager’s charge, one which hinted at bad luck beyond the normal run of things.
That feeling was compounded when the ground’s power failed in the 52nd minute.
By then the dominant home team were cruising to victory, courtesy of a double from Eamonn Brophy.
Off went the teams, on went the mobile phone torches and, before even a couple of minutes had elapsed, the visiting Hibs fans were taunting their opponents about having been 2-0 up and messing up.
On this occasion, the electricians got the game going again after a delay of 14 minutes.
A quarter of an hour later, it all happened again.
Lights out, teams off and some banter from the travelling fans about Killie forgetting to pay their electric bills.
This time there was a genuine fear the game would be called off with much scurrying around on the sidelines during a 10-minute break that seemed to stretch on and on.
Back the teams came, though, for what the announcer jovially described as “Take Three”.
Before all the problems, this was as straightforward a game as you can imagine.
Killie stormed into the Hibs penalty box, Greg Stewart worked a short pass to Brophy and, from 10 yards out, his strike partner smashed a shot into the corner of the net.
Their tails up, they then went at the visitors with everything they had with Rory McKenzie and Jordan Jones on either flank tormenting their markers.
The former flashed a shot wide, the latter forced Adam Bogdan to tip a shot over the top, as they pressed for a second.
It came courtesy of Jones, who was on irresistible form.
Collecting a pass from Greg Taylor he darted into the Hibs area, drawing a foul from Darren McGregor which had referee Craig Thomson pointing to the penalty spot.
It presented Brophy with an easy opportunity for his second which he grabbed with a confident finish.
Hibs showed more energy and directness in the interrupted second half but it was Killie who rounded things off with Greg Stewart finishing a breakaway with a cool finish.
“Three-nil probably was a more accurate reflection of the game,” said Killie manager Steve Clarke. “However, I think the stoppages actually disrupted us a little bit more than Hibs because they were chasing the game and had nothing to lose whereas we couldn’t find a proper rhythm in the second half which we had in the first.
“It was nice to get the third one but we should have had it earlier and maybe gone to get four or five goals.
“So we are not going to grumble – I thought we were terrific today.”
On that point, it was hard to argue.