Saturday 23 April Dundee United v Kilmarnock -1215

Saturday 30 April Kilmarnock v Hearts -1500

Sunday 8 May Kilmarnock v Celtic -1245

Wednesday 11 May Motherwell v Kilmarnock -1945

Sunday 15 May Kilmarnock v Rangers -1230

At least we have 3 home games this season, but the kick off times are not fan-friendly. In addition the final game on a Sunday lunchtime leaves us little in the way of celebratory options when we rob the Huns of their title!

2 second half goals from Silva and Eremenko. I wrongly thought it was Gros who got the second.

In Mixu we trust. Twice we have broken Hearts, 3-0 now 2-0.

Not sure who this sad guy below is…

Anyone who is a regular at RP will attest to the unreconstructed comments that echo around the stands from various quarters. The old-school ‘lump it up the park’ mentality has not been swept away in the wave of general euphoria that swept us all along in the first weeks of the new campaign. Underneath the general happiness is a lingering doubt in all of us, expressed vocally by those whose disposition is rather more governed by the anima than conscious deliberation.

Truth be told, we all have doubts, even if we keep them to ourselves or dare to no more than whisper them to our closest confidantes. Haven’t we all heard someone say, or thought to ourselves: have other teams just got the hang of playing against us? These concerns will not be limited to the supporters, but inevitably will be preying on the minds of the players too.

But banish those thoughts of despair for today! We have a game to play. We need to lift the team and tell them we still support their efforts, despite last week’s setback. We need to let the management know that we appreciate what they have done and we have faith that they will continue to do. Turning point? Rubbish! Every team needs to develop and development needs setbacks, it’s part of life. There is no great turning point here. To act on such an ill-founded idea would be to deny the progress we’ve made and give cheers to our opposition as we slink with sunken heads back to our rightful place at the bottom of the table, as they would have it. Well, I’m no havin’ it, and neither I am sure will Mixu!

Even were it to prove true that the notional ‘bubble’ has evaporated in the light of reality (which it has not!)…. hasn’t it been great so far? Hasn’t it been heartwarming! Remember the feeling last season when it was a painful depressing dark dreary and faithless torture to attend a game? In comparison, we have been lifted to the very heights of Ben Nevis, gazing down on the rest of hoof-it-around Scotland as our passing style is fancifully, but almost seriously, compared to Barcelona! What a blast! Whit a laugh!

I will appreciate this season, even if we don’t end up fourth and I thank the management and players for making me enjoy football again.

Let’s go out there without fear today, heads held high, in the confidence that we can play the best football in the league. We have great players and the best manager and the best supporters (bar a few moaners). Let’s have fun.

Prediction: Killie 3 Buddies 1

Sammon played one of his best games for us. He was everywhere, skilful, challenging, fast, strong. Clancy had about his best game ever charging up the wing. Hay played well too and most of the others did alright in an exciting end to end game. The first half was evenly matched but we went in 1 up after a great Sammon strike from an Eremenko square across the goal area. The flowing passing was only showing in patches and while Utd didn’t play great football they had their chances too.

The second half was eventful. First Eremenko was sent off for kicking out while on the ground. Then two Utd players were sent off in quick succession. For the few minutes that it was 10 v 10 the game was its most exciting, a real stormer.Write to FIFA and suggest that there could be a case for reducing the quotient of outfield players in every game. There could never be a case however for playing 10 v 9 if Killie have the man over.

From the point when we were one man up you could feel the Utd goal coming. All the fans knew we should have made a substitution earlier. Cries were going up for the industry of Fowler or the skill of Taouil but Mixu delayed while Rui Miguel ran out of legs.

Where we had tried to pass and build up plays, we started squandering chance after chance with wild shots and slack passing. The players settled into a defensive line up while Utd got a lift from having their second send-off.You could say their long-range goal was a fluke, but in truth the second half had all the hallmarks of an equlaiser about it.

Will they never learn?

I hear some “fans” doing nothing for 90 mins but moan at our players – they always have their favourite whipping boys. They do it loudly and often with the most abusive and vile language. To tone it down somewhat examples are:
“You’re rubbish <playername>!”
“You’re a f’in waste of space <playername>”
“Just f-off you <playername> ya c…!”
“Get tae F <playername>, you’re a useless B”
etc
This goes on unrelenting for the full game!
Any mistake is pounced upon, any moves that break down get blamed on the whipping boy, fairly or not, and even good play can be disparaged!
I’m not talking about having a moan when fustrated by a mistake, or letting your feelings known as a paying customer. I don’t object to that, although I prefer encouragment rather than discouragement. But the continual stream of bile directed at certain players is disgusting.

Unfortunately these “loud barrels” get heard over the quieter more rational (real) fans who want to support the team. Their actions bring us all down, affect the players confidence and performance and misrepresent us all.
It is time we made the real voice of Killie fans heard.
Any suggestions?

The bookies quote a draw or Utd as narrow favourites. The Herald predicts a 1-1 draw. We’ll see what emerges when the fog of time lifts and the final whistle sounds, but my suspicion is a return to winning ways after Tuesday night’s disappointing defeat when Hearts visited RP. We’ve been letting opposition teams overrun us recently, particularly in the second half of games as we surrender the lead too easily and the late sucker punch hits us squarely between the eyes (St. Johnstone and Hearts). Today I’m sure manager of the month for December, Mixu will underline the importance of fighting to the end.

Mon the Killie.

Maybe Killie believed that their first half performance could be merrily continued after the break without the breaking of sweat. Maybe they drank “fairy” liquid in the dressing room. Or they thought the job was already done and became too relaxed. Whatever the reason, the second half was a very different match. The Saints learnt a lesson from Rangers and came out with fire and determination and several robust challenges to dish out on playmakers Taouil and Eremenko in particular. They ran at us and broke up every move, giving us no time on the ball. The spoiling tactics worked a treat and suddenly St. Johnstone were the footballers, the Killie players left chasing their tails.

The longer it went on the confidence ebbed from Killie and the Saints seemed to grow in stature. We couldn’t hold the ball or string passes together. They made darting runs down the wing and threw dangerous balls toward goal. You could feel it coming and there was no surprise when they scored. A slack backwards pass from Eremenko found Fowler indecisive and unaware that he was closely marked. Possession lost, the Saints fired it out wide and Hooky stood off their striker until he darted inside and shot from the edge of the box, the ball squirming into the back corner of the net past the diving, blameless Bell.

We picked up the game a little then and got back into it, but it was too late. A great Sammon effort from a wide angle was well saved, but we lacked the time to get back in front.

Man of the match was undoubtedly Bell for a string of great instinctual saves. If a Scunthorpe scout was watching Conor he might just have recommended an additional target to his bosses.

We're doomed!

At a meeting today the representatives of the SPL clubs agreed to the principle of two top leagues of 10 teams each. In other words, there will be a 10-team SPL (1), reducing the current top division by 2 teams, and a 10-team SPL(2) replacing the first division. So in effect the SPL is simply a re-branding of the current setup with the additional result of destroying the SFL.

The fans do not want this as a hastily-arranged poll demonstrated, with 88% of respondents opposing the idea in favour of 16 or 18 team top division.

I fear Scottish football is doomed.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/default.stm