Killie ended their 1st 11 fixtures of the season with a 0-5 loss to
league leaders Celtic at Rugby Park. We have yet to break into the "top 6"
all season, and after the first third of the season we find ourselves 4
point adrift of 6th or better.
Chris Sutton opened the scoring with a 20th minute "dubious"
penalty, but it was a full 50 minutes later before John Hartson
doubled the lead.
Sutton made it 3-0 before substitute Shaun Maloney got in on the act
and then Sutton completed his hat-trick with a late penalty.
Celtic dominated possession in the opening stages without troubling
Francois Dubourdeau in the Kilmarnock goal, but they went ahead with their
first effort on target.
That came from the penalty spot after Stilian Petrov, looking to get on
the end of a one-two with Henrik Larsson, went down under minimal
contact from Gary McDonald in the box.
Sutton confidently despatched the spot-kick past Dubourdeau.
A few minutes later it took a wonderful goal-line clearance from Gordon
Greer to prevent Celtic going two ahead after Liam Miller latched onto
Larsson's pass to lob the ball over Dubourdeau's head.
Kilmarnock put together their first decent move of the game after 37
minutes and it almost led to the equaliser.
Paul di Giacomo's flick found Greg Shields, who got the break of the
ball before firing a shot through the legs of Stan Varga but narrowly wide
of the post.
There was a major let-off for Kilmarnock just before half time when
Sutton slipped the ball to Larsson who turned his marker in the box before
clipping the ball past Dubourdeau, only to see it come back off the inside
of the post.
Celtic continued to dominate possession at the beginning of the second
half, but Magnus Hedman was brought into the game for the first time in 64
minutes when he dived to his left to keep out McDonald's stab at goal.
Moments later, Killie claimed for a penalty when Jackie
McNamara seemed to hold back Colin Nish, but referee Hugh Dallas saw
nothing amiss.
Miller flashed a shot a yard wide following Hartson's lay-off as the
game at last threatened to come to life.
On 70 minutes Celtic made sure of the points when Michael Gray swung
the ball in from the left, Sutton flicked on at the near post and Hartson
headed emphatically past Dubourdeau.
Six minutes later it was 3-0 as Hartson played the ball wide for
Larsson who whipped it back into the six-yard box for Sutton to bundle it
into the net.
Martin O'Neill made a triple substitution late on and two of the late
arrivals made an immediate impact as Celtic added to their tally.
Ross Beattie picked up the ball on the left before picking out Maloney
who buried it past Dubourdeau.
Killie's misery was completed in injury time when Sutton completed his
hat-trick from the spot after Larsson was fouled in the box by Freddie
Dindeleux.
Hessey, Dindeleux, McLaughlin, Fowler, (Canero 45 mins) Fulton
