Killie Hammer The Diamonds!

Kilmarnock 8 Airdrieonians 0
(Scot First Division, Match 5, Rugby Park, Sept 29th 1962)

BEFORE Saturday Kilmarnock were being labelled cup cracks and league flops, this as a result of their 7 wins and 1 draw in 8 League Cup games and unexpectedly dropping 4 points in 4 League matches. After Saturday they were being rightly hailed as a force to be reckoned with in Scottish football this season. Killie obviously set out to lose the "flop" tag against Airdrie at Rugby Park and just how well they succeeded is emphasised by their 8-0 winning-performance. This was Kilmarnock at their hard-hitting best, playing the brand of football that put paid to Dunfermline's and Partick Thistle's League Cup hopes. And leading the grand goal spree was that master of marksmanship, Andy Kerr  who helped himself to five of the eight.

The trouncing of Airdrie started at an early stage in the game. In 15 minutes Kilmarnock were up 3-0, all the goals coming from the scoring feet of the home centre. In 5 minutes Sneddon and Beattie com­bined to make the first opening and from the latter's final pass KERR rocketed the ball past Samson from close range. The second arrived via the penalty spot in 12 minutes, KERR again netting expertly as the result of an award given against Samson for pulling down Black. In 15 minutes Sneddon teed up the ball for KERR and the centre completed his hat-trick with a raging shot which again gave the 'keeper no chance to save,

Precision Play

Poor Airdrie, After beating Raith Rovers 8-1 the previous week to gain their first League win of the season they found themselves completely unable to cope with the precision play of rampant Kilmarnock. To their credit they came out from this early goal rush fighting but it was only for a brief spell that they hal­ted the Killie onslaught. In the 32nd and 34th minutes Samson was picking the ball out of the net again, first when an O'Connor shot that was going past struck McNEIL and Was deflected behind him and then when SNEDDON fastened oil to a Kerr pass to score a smartly taken fifth goal. While Samson was being kept the busiest man afield Sandy McLaughlan was almost an onlooker, his only testing shot of the half be­ing a piledriver from Rowan which he saved brilliantly.

Five minutes from the interval McIlroy went off for treatment for a nasty eye gash, which required stitched but when the teams resumed he was back in his place. Demora­lised, outplayed and outpaced Airdrie were again forced to main­tain a defensive role against constant Killie aggression. Samson had fine saves from Kerr and Black before Kerr dummied a McIlroy cross to leave O'CONNOR a clear passage to shoot Kilmarnock into a 6-0 lead in the 60th minute. Killie should have had another penalty when Black was blatantly pushed but the referee waved aside all claims. And Sneddon should have had another goal when he worked his way through but from close range he sliced his shot wide of the mark, Beattie, might also have had one had he kept a raging shot lower.

Biggest Win

By scoring two more goals in the last 10 minutes to take his own total to 5 and his team's to 8 KERR showed them how it should be done.  First in the 80th minute he ever so coolly lofted an O'Connor cross into the net and then 7 minutes later he met a Richmond lob into the goal area to send it the way of all pre­vious chances that had fallen to his deadly feet in this game — into the back of the net.

This was quite a day for Killie and for Kerr. It was the club's biggest win in a League game for many a long day and the best indi­vidual scoring performance of the centre's career. And for Airdrie this was 90 minutes of soccer humiliation and demoralisation, They were out of their class against vastly superior opponents. On this form Kilmarnock are a match for any other Scottish club, even allow­ing for the weakness of the Broom-fielders. This was a display in which they combined speed, skill, fit­ness and finishing ability of a high order and struggling Airdrie simply couldn't match them in any one of these qualities.

Teamwork Triumphed

 This, however, will be mainly remembered as Andy Kerr's match. Not only did he score five goals, he contributed to the other three with a craft which matched his oppor­tunism. A close joint second to 5-star Kerr came Beattie and O’Connor, wing-halves of class and culture. But Kilmarnock played stylishly together and all must share in the credit for making certain that there was no dubiety about the club's first home League win of the season. It was a triumph for teamwork.

Airdrie couldn't blame Jim Samson for this drubbing. In fact but for him Killie might have made it a double-figure win. Only the keeper and a promising young winger in Tommy Murray showed up well for the visitors.

Kilmarnock: McLaughlan; Richmond and Watson; O'Connor, McGrory and Beattie; H. Brown, Black, Kerr, Sneddon and McIlroy.

Attendance -7,317.

Referee —  A.  Crossman, Edinburgh.