Killie Vs Hibs 2007 CIS Cup Final Preview

Hibs and Killie appear so closely matched in tomorrow's CIS Insurance Cup final that the non-aligned betting man would require a gun at his head to force him to have a bet. Only active supporters of the respective combatants are likely to feel an irresistible urge to plunge, with utterly uncomplicated certainty, on their heroes.

Without the unbalancing presence of either Celtic or Rangers, Scottish football's first showcase event of the season promises to deliver an endlessly intriguing contest between teams enjoying the rare experience of justifiable optimism.

If Hibs are marginally favoured by the bookmakers, separation in the odds about each may have been achieved by statistics, as opposed to visual evidence of any pronounced superiority in overall strength.

With the protagonists sharing fifth place in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague on 43 points, a distinction of sorts is made possible only by scrutiny of the respective goals columns.

Kilmarnock's largely unimpressive 41-46 makes a potentially telling contrast with Hibs' 48-34, suggesting that Jim Jefferies' side have an alarming tendency towards low productivity and a high rate of concession.

As is often the case with statistics, however, the figures do not square with the impression of the Rugby Park side throughout the season as one capable of holding their own in most company. If their deepest "shame" so far is a failure to inflict any damage on Celtic after three outings, they are hardly alone.

What they do boast from their three league meetings with tomorrow's rivals at Hampden Park is an even share of the points, with a win, a defeat and a draw. That is a sequence that would reinforce the disinterested punter's commitment to keeping his money in his pocket.

If the stats also suggest that Kilmarnock are a typically stolid, well-drilled Jefferies side, they fail to make allowances for the improvisational skills of a player of the quality of Stevie Naismith.

In conversation the other day, the Hibs manager, John Collins, spoke admiringly of the young forward, clearly aware that he could bring bother to his own defence if allowed space and time in which to give an exhibition of his array of gifts.

"Naismith is technically very accomplished," said Collins, "and he is also a good finisher, having scored a fair number of goals for somebody who tends to play in wider areas. He is undoubtedly one of Kilmarnock's strengths. But what we'll have to do is identify their weaknesses and find a way of exploiting them."

The image of Kilmarnock - or, more specifically, their manager - as fundamentally cautious was blurred by Jefferies yesterday, when he declared himself highly optimistic over the prospects of an aesthetically pleasing final. In doing so, he offered encouraging insight, drawn from experience.

"Cup finals not involving one of the Old Firm teams tend to be much more open," said Jefferies. "Playing against Celtic or Rangers, you can be tempted into concentrating on stopping them from playing, rather than focusing on your own, natural game.

"What we have on Sunday is a match between two teams who each know they're capable of beating the other. We've already had very good, open games with Hibs in recent times, with plenty of goals. There have been nine in the three games we've played this season.

"I really think this match on Sunday could be like the Scottish Cup final in 1991 between Motherwell and Dundee United, which finished 4-3. Having said that, of course, it'll probably be a scoreless draw. But, looking at the two teams, I honestly don't think there's any chance of that."

If the evidence so far suggests that Hibs at their best are the more inventive and adventurous of the two, it should be of some concern to their followers that they will have to win the cup without their most prolific striker, Chris Killen.

The big New Zealander's absence through injury is a setback whose significance cannot be overstated. Not only the leading scorer at his club, but in the country, before he was rendered inactive, Killen was the productive focal point for Hibs' thrusting style, as typified by the surges of Scott Brown and the incisive passing of Guillaume Beuzelin from midfield.

Collins admitted that a certain reduction of his team's overall effectiveness was inevitable as a result of losing the services of a player as valuable as Killen.

"No team can do without a player like him without being diminished to some extent," said the manager. "He scored too many goals not to have been of exceptional value. But Benji [Abdessalam Benjelloun] has come in and proved to be a very capable deputy, scoring a few goals for us."

Collins remains unmoved by the suggestion that, in losing last season's Tennent's Scottish Cup semi-final to Hearts and the CIS Cup final to Livingston three years ago, Hibs have shown an alarming unreliability on the most demanding occasions.

"From what I've seen of this group of players," he said, "I'm convinced they rise to the big occasion and this is the biggest they will have faced since I came here. I think they'll thrive on the circumstances, a big stadium, a great crowd and a brilliant atmosphere.

"It's all to do with self-belief and I believe they have plenty of that. It's also a question of getting them relaxed, playing the game of which they're capable, making the passes, playing as a team. If they can do that, they will have a real chance of winning the cup.

"We all have respect here for Kilmarnock. We've had enough good games with them to know how difficult they will be. But we have faith in ourselves and it's a matter of producing our best work on the day."

The rookie Collins, only four-and-a-half months into his first job as a manager, will be aware that the veteran Jefferies, no stranger to cup finals, will also have his team properly prepared to meet the challenge. Whatever the outcome, the journey towards it should be fascinating.

Kilmarnock are aiming to make it fifth time lucky in League Cup finals tomorrow and end a 45-year jinx.

No other club in Scotland can equal Kilmarnock’s uncanny knack of losing these showpiece showdowns. Their unenviable record reads played four and lost four, without a single goal to their credit.

Yet diehard Kilmarnock fans draw comfort from their long losing streak, reasoning that the gods of football cannot allow them to suffer forever.

Sandy Tyrie, a football historian and lifelong Rugby Park regular, said: “It’s about time our luck changed, and it would be good if we could turn it around against Hibernian. I have seen the last three of our League Cup final defeats, and I’ll be there at Hampden wishing that we can complete our hat-trick of domestic trophies. I’ve seen us win the championship and the Scottish Cup. Now there’s just one to go.”

Kilmarnock began their unhappy association with League Cup finals in 1952, when they battled through to the last match as a Division B team. They had dumped Rangers out in the semi-finals, but couldn’t overcome Dundee at Hampden. They were sunk by two goals in the last ten minutes from Bobby Flavell, who went on to play for Kilmarnock.

They were back again for the final eight years later, in an era when they boasted one of the best teams in the club’s history. They had finished runners-up in the first division the season before, and were on their way to another second-place finish when they met the champions-elect, Rangers, at Hampden.

Tyrie said: “I was at Hampden for that game as a 13-year-old boy, and we lost 2-0 again. I had seen us lose 2-0 against Rangers in the Scottish Cup final a few months earlier, so it didn’t come as a shock. But we were in the match until right near the end, when they scored their second.”

The closest Kilmarnock have come to lifting the League Cup was in their third final appearance in 1962, when they lost 1-0 to Heart of Midlothian. Even then it needed a mysterious refereeing decision to deprive them of the prize.

The conundrum still exercises troubled football minds in Kilmarnock to this day — just why did the referee chalk off a perfectly good own goal that would have taken the match into extra-time?

Tyrie recalls: “We were trailing by a goal, and in the last seconds we had a free kick. It was played into the penalty area, and one of their players rose above everybody and headed it into the back of his own net. The Killie fans went mad thinking we were going for extra-time. But the referee disallowed it. Nobody knew why. The Hearts players certainly didn’t complain when the ball went in.

“Eventually, the referee went to the linesman to consult him, but the goal was still disallowed. To this day, nobody can explain why. The only explanation I can come up with was it was raining and cold and he’d had enough. He wanted to get back into the dressing-room and have his cup of tea rather than face extra-time.

“The referee was a man named Tom Wharton, who was known as Tiny because he was a really big guy. Every time Tiny came to our ground for years after that he suffered abuse. And deservedly so.”

Kilmarnock’s most recent trip to the League Cup final ended in a landslide of Henrik Larsson goals, as Celtic won 3-0 in 2001. “We held our own for a long spell, but Celtic were better in the end,” Tyrie said.

“But we’re going into the game with Hibs feeling really buoyant. It will be a hard game, but it could finally be our turn at last. At the very least, I’d like to see us a score a goal.”

Garry Hay stands alone in the Kilmarnock team as being able to say he was there in 2001 when the Rugby Park side were speared by genius in a cup final. Despite having their hopes of success buoyed by Celtic striker Chris Sutton's red card early in the second-half Kilmarnock were confronted by an opponent on a one-man mission.

Henrik Larsson scored an exquisite hat-trick and, with three pieces of inspiration, cast a pall over the post-match meal organised by the club. The outcome was made more wounding due to Kilmarnock having been offered the opportunity to get back into the game by Sutton's red card shortly after Larsson had opened the scoring.

"Celtic got Chris Sutton sent off (below) and we thought to ourselves 'we have got a chance if we keep Celtic quiet'," recalled Hay. "We tried to make a push but Henrik Larsson scored straight from a corner at the start of the second half and that was that.

"Celtic then were stronger than they are now and Hibs this time around will probably be the favourites with the bookies," Hay continued. "That will probably suit us because we like going about our business quietly."

Hay was this week reminded by his manager Jim Jefferies that he has a rare opportunity to create history by becoming the first Kilmarnock skipper to lift the League Cup. Should this come to pass it will make-up for the wake he attended after the 2001 final defeat. "[Ian] Durrant took us back to a restaurant in Newton Mearns for a meal with the families," recalled Hay."It was a bit flat and quiet in the end. Cup finals are great occasions when you win but not when you don't."

Hay witnessed the joy which enveloped Kilmarnock in 1997 when the team brought back the Scottish Cup for the first time in nearly 70 years. The Irvine-born left-back was just beginning his long association with the club and shared the delight at the outcome.

"I was a first-year pro in 1997 and went on the bus with the players' wives, girlfriends and families," he recalled. "I do not know how the players felt but it was great to talk to them about it afterwards. We now have a chance to make our own bit of history with Kilmarnock."

But having been on the outside looking in back in 1997 and a frustrated loser six years ago, Hay is determined to make this a day which places him firmly in the centre of the frame. He appreciates his photograph will be the one preserved for posterity should Kilmarnock claim the cup, although he is prepared to share centre-stage. Gary Locke, the injured club captain, might be invited to reprise his emotional lifting of the Scottish Cup with Stevie Fulton, when, again injured, he was urged up to the podium by Hearts team-mates in 1998. "I have tried not to think about holding up the cup too much but sometimes it can't help drift into your head," he said. "And I don't care who comes up there to lift it with me."