Killie won for the 6th time in 8 outings at Livingston with a fine
dominating away performance. Kris Boyd scored his 60th &
61st SPL goals to move into 4th all-time behind Tic-trio of Larsson,
Hartson & Sutton.
Kilmarnock impressively moved level on points with fourth-placed
Rangers in the Bank of Scotland Premier League table after an inspired
attacking display from forward Kris Boyd earned a 3-0 win and halted
Livi's brief resurgence.
Red-hot Boyd heightened his claims for a Scotland Future team start
with a glory double to take his tally for the season to 14 goals with
Steven Naismith also netting.
Irvine-born Boyd, still only 22, was impressive throughout and
Scotland boss Walter Smith will surely run the rule over him in the
forthcoming clash with Poland at Rugby Park on December 6.
The result was made worse for Paul Lambert's men after news filtered
through from Parkhead of Dunfermline's shock victory - plunging the
Lions back to the foot of the table on goal difference.
The afternoon began in noisy fashion as a mark of respect to
George
Best, who passed away aged just 59, with a minute's applause
being celebrated.
The 3,446 who gathered at Almondvale were asked to applaud and cheer
for 60 seconds to celebrate the life of the Manchester United legend.
On the field, Boyd probably should have given Killie the lead after
just four minutes when Allan Johnston picked him out with a delightful
cross just eight yards from goal.
Boyd's header was firm but Ludovic Roy produced an outstanding
one-handed save to tip the ball over.
Full-back
Garry Hay then blazed a shot wide from the resulting corner.
Jason Dair saw a shot fly over in the 24th minute - Livi's first
attempt - before dominant Killie took the lead thanks to that man
Kris Boyd on 26 minutes.
Hay's cross from the left should have been cleared by Belgian
defender Harald Pinxten but he got the ball stuck under his foot and it
broke to the striker, who swooped to finish clinically from seven yards.
(right).
Two minutes later and the away side made it 2-0 after a fine sweeping
move to leave Livi reeling.
Allan
Johnston's through-ball was expertly dummied by Colin Nish and
Stephen Naismith continued his run from deep to stroke the ball
past Roy from 12 yards.(left)
Pinxten looked set to atone for his earlier error in the 43rd minute,
but Killie defender Simon Ford beat him to Paul Tierney's free-kick to
divert the ball over for a corner.
Livi needed a fast start to the second half and Paul Dalglish soon
tried his luck from 30 yards but Alan Combe was behind the effort,
despite the ball looping up off his chest.
Killie were soon pulling the strings again with former Rangers and
Hearts winger Johnston instrumental.
His delicate pass down the right channel saw Boyd fire into the
side-netting from a tight angle after 51 minutes. Lambert had to make a
change and did so four minutes later with the ineffectual Robert
Snodgrass taken off for Ramon Pereira.
Boyd then almost got lucky on the hour mark when his 15-yard shot
deflected off Greg Strong and dribbled wide to the relief of a
wrong-footed Roy.
Livi were struggling to create, but skipper Dave MacKay saw a header
drop just wide in the 70th minute after a fine centre from Richard
Brittain.
But the
match was ended as a contest seven minutes from time when Garry Hay's hooked
ball caused havoc in the Livi rearguard was poorly dealt with by the
home defence, allowing Kris Boyd (right) to take control.
His predatory instincts saw him steal the ball from Gabor Vincze’s grasp
before facing a one-on-one with Roy. The goalkeeper was quickly off his
line but Boyd, cutely lobbed over the advancing Frenchman and into the
back of the net to show why he is rated as one of the finest young
talents in the country, and score his
seventh goal in just his last four games.
The Killie fans quickly chanted .."Are you watching Walter Smith?"
- and the national manager surely is.
Fixtures & Results
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League Table
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JJ's Comments
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Season Diary
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Match Pics
Thanks to
http://www.livilions.co.uk for some of the above Match Pics
