killie.net: Hanging in there

Friday, November 19, 2004

Hanging in there

I was just about in danger there of letting this all slip again. Three matches have come and gone since my last post and, in keeping with the recent trend, it's been a mixed lot. The 3-1 humbling of Hibs at Rugby Park provided as entertaining a first 45 as I've seen for a while. Memories of the 6-2 drubbing we handed them (last season was it?) came flooding back as we raced into a three nil lead, however the second half, as is often the case, never quite lived up to expectation. Nevertheless, this was a fine win notable for further impressive performances from the pairing of Leven and MacDonald in midfield, likewise from new recruit Simon Ford at the back, and another brace from Van Nish-telrooy.

Naturally, then, we headed to the theatre of Potatoes with a degree of confidence. Unfortunately, the 50-odd year hoodoo remains as we went down 2-1 to Ceptic. This, however, was a tremendous performance from a very young Killie side. Killie actually dictated the play for much of the first half, and it took a dubious free-kick award on the stroke of half-time to present an out-of-sorts Ceptic with the opener - albeit finely struck by Aiden "I'd rather play for Ireland because they're, erm, Irish" McGeady. Still, Killie started the second period with great intent but all it took was some blatant cheating (or "simulation" in FIFA-speak) by Camara, when Ford had the audacity to run within six yards of him, to earn the obligatory penalty and put the game out of Killie's reach. Yet, the Ayrshiremen had the last word, scoring the best goal of the match (that man Nish again) right at the death. It was just too late to be anything more than a consolation, though.

The mood going into the next home match with Hearts (already our third meeting this season) remained positive. Like our previous two encounters, this proved to be a tough physical test (despite new Hearts manager John Robertson's assertions that he would be introducing a more passing style of game to the Gorgie men), however this time Killie rose to the challenge and had by far the better chances in the match. We had to settle for 1-1 in the end, a cracking goal from Peter Leven cancelled out by a counter-attacking strike from Wyness, but on possesion and chances Killie should have had Hearts buried before the hour mark. Earlier in the season I felt we were well short of the standards being set by Hearts. This game suggested that we have come a long way in a few short months. A solid win in Dunfermline tomorrow would cement that view and keep Killie well placed in the top half of the SPHell. With Killie, though, you never quite know what to expect next. A repeat of the 6-0 win there a few years back would do very nicely thank you....

¶ 11:21 PM

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life as a Killie fan

if you care to, you can watch the Killie's season unfold here in dramatic fashion. ok, it won't be dramatic. it'll be full of the usual stuff, but i'll do my best to make it interesting. you'll get the away U21 reports here too. i should be committed.