Dan is Killie’s man as they gain sweet revenge for defeat
The Kilmarnock revival continues. Derek McInnes’ side stretched their unbeaten run to five games with a win which hoists them three points clear of basement club County and second-bottom Dundee United.
It was a match they dominated for 40 minutes or so, only to end up hanging on at spells in the second half but they will feel that their form during the early stages merited the win.
For manager Derek McInnes, though, there was also some welcome revenge for a 1-0 defeat in Dingwall in August.
“There was a lot of satisfaction from that win because we felt really angry at ourselves and frustrated with some of the decisions up at County last time,” he said.
“We lost to a late winner and it was a sore one to take, a long journey back home and a tough few days after that. County should’ve been down to nine men, we were also angry about that and we mentioned it.
“It’s only by winning today that we started to feel a bit better about that result. We showed good moments in the first half and showed real togetherness and steeliness which does no harm for the players – seeing games out at Premiership level.”
Killie twice came close in the sixth minute; first a Kerr McInroy piledriver took a wicked deflection off Alex Iacovitti, forcing Ross Laidlaw into a fine reflex save and, from the resulting corner, Ash Taylor sent a glancing header inches wide.
County had been reduced to 10 men at that stage, following a muscle injury to midfielder Ross Callachan (it took four minutes before he was replaced by Yan Dhanda).
The home side were making all of the running, though, and deservedly took the lead in the 20th minute. Innes Cameron claimed the assist by flicking the ball on for Danny Armstrong and the winger produced a confident finish, lashing it into the roof of the net from 15 yards.
Killie defender Joe Wright came agonisingly close to a second. His header from a setpiece was blocked but came back to him and his chip from the rebound was headed off the line by Iacovitti. Remarkably, it was the only incident during the game which was checked by VAR official Don Robertson.
County were reeling and even when Edwards latched on to a slip by Taylor he could only fire wide from an acute angle.
Ryan Abeliosu tormented County down the right flank and the unmarked McInroy should have scored from his cutback in the 35th minute instead of shooting weakly into Laidlaw’s arms from 12 yards. Jordan White then reminded the hosts a one-goal lead wasn’t enough when he flashed a header wide from George Harmon’s cross.
Jordy Hiwula summed up the visitors’ first half when he was booked for blatantly diving in an attempt to con the referee into awarding a penalty. Zach Hemming then kept out an angled drive from the winger after Jordan Jones had pulled out of a challenge.
County came out of the traps like a train after the restart and Hemming made a superb onehanded save to deny White as Killie’s back three – and Lewis Mayo, in particular – stood off their opponents.
The game then descended into a lull until Hemming made an outstanding save to turn over a 20-yarder from Dhanda in the 73rd minute. Jones could have sealed the points nine minutes from time when he was sent clear by Liam Polworth but the former Rangers winger curled his effort wide of the far post from 10 yards.