Following the first teams example
the previous weekend, it was the turn of the reserves to teach Hearts a
lesson in football and send mad Vlads protégés back to the Capital empty
handed.The visitors started the brighter, winning a corner in the
first minute, which was easily dealt with. Thereafter, most of the
possession and pressure came from Hearts, on a dis-jointed Killie side
that had seen the main change in the midfield with Gary Locke coming in
for Peter Leven. On the 11th minute, a speculative cross from the left
forced Combe to just tip over the bar to make sure. The resultant corner
once again failed to trouble the Kilmarnock defence and the move
finished with a Killie free kick. Possession was soon handed back to
Hearts though and a sclaffed drive by Jamie Mole had Combe ‘gently’
falling to his left for a comfortable stop.
The game was beginning to become scrappy, with neither side able to
keep the ball for more than 5 or 6 passes. Having said that, the
visitors always seemed to be the more competent with the ball and moved
it about well when they had it. Such a spell produced another shot by
the longhaired Mole which flew harmlessly past and into the stand.
Hearts began to press the game and on the 20th Minute saw a 40yard
effort from Brellier end up in row K. 2 minutes later, the visitors had
an appeal for a penalty waved away after some clever football by
Mikoliunas & Jamie Mole saw the latter fall over in the box after a
combined tag-team effort by Adams and Hamill.
This seemed to spur the Killie troops on a brief assault into their
opponents half and they were rewarded in the 22nd minute by a goal from
Paul Di Giacomo, the striker capitalising on a sclaffed clearance come
pass-back and nipping in before the keeper could gather.
Normal service resumed after the restart and Alan Combe had to be
alert in the 24th Minute spreading himself wide & making a superb
one-handed stop from a Pospisil shot.
Killie had another jaunt into the visitors half in the 29th minute
and their efforts were rewarded by a foul on Stevie Murray. Gary Locke
took the free kick, which was powered wide off the head of Adams. Hearts
were determined but their inability to get the final ball on target was
to become the theme of the night with McCann blasting over from 9yards
in the 31st minute.
The referee was enjoying blowing his whistle and the majority of his
decisions were going Hearts way. One such decision gifted Hearts
an excellent opportunity, but yet again it was blasted clear of the bar.
On the 37th Minute, Manny left the technical area and headed up the
tunnel, presumably to cut the half-time oranges. I didn’t notice if he
was wearing his shorts or not but I asked Jim Wilson if he’d keep an eye
out and report to me later. To be fair, I can’t imagine he would be as
the temperatures were barely above freezing………
As the scrappiness of the first half drew to a close, it was Hearts
who first found one of their players enter the referees wee book,
Zaliukas for persistent fouling. The final move of the half saw Hearts
have one last drive down the Killie left with the final shot by Pospisil
leaving Combe flapping at nothing and Rhian Dodds thumping it off the
line leaving Killie to go in at the break, under pressure but a goal to
the good.
The second half immediately had Di Giacomo race forward with Coyne to
his right & Murray to his left, when one on one with the defender he
deftly slipped the ball to wee Ruby who cut inside and unleashed a
fearsome shot that would certainly have burst the net had the defender
not managed to block it.
By now, the cold was really starting to bite and I found my attention
wandering a bit. I was quickly returned to my senses by what I thought
was a woman screaming. As I quickly scanned the pitch it became clear
that the screaming was coming from Hearts Mikoliunas and I guessed that
David Lilley had something to do with it as he strode away from the
referee as quickly as possible. The free kick was well struck by
Pospisil and Combe made another superb save, this time diving low to his
left post and getting enough of a strong wrist to it that deflected the
ball upwards and off the underside of the bar. Killie collected the
loose ball and steamed up the park in a classic counter attacking move,
which unfortunately saw the ball end up safely in the keeper’s hands.
With 50 minutes on the clock, Hearts had yet another shot tipped over
by the mighty Combe after some bright passing moves through the
midfield. On 51 minutes it was a Killie players turn to enter the book
and this time it was Campbell after he protested too much to the hapless
referee following a foul on Stevie Murray. Now to be honest, Campbell
didn’t need to say to much as the home crowd were leaving the ref in no
doubt as to what they believed his competence to be. By the 53rd minute
the referee was having such a great time blowing his wee whistle that
when Jim Wilson roared that he “didn’t have a clue” he duly confirmed
the statement by blowing his wee whistle again for a Hearts free kick
for no good reason. Hearts continued their earlier form and skelped this
one impressively over the bar once again.
The 56th minute saw Manny return to the dugout and I can report that
he was indeed wearing shorts. To be perfectly frank, it’s hard not to be
impressed by this man of steel and it’s easy to see why JJ holds him in
such high regard – but that’s a story for another day.
Killie’s woes were to continue and it looked as though their luck was
about to run out after Campbell was booked for the second time for a
clumsy challenge just outside the 18-yard area. As expected Hearts
proudly thumped the free kick high into the Moffat, but with Killie
reduced to 10 men and Stevie Murray dropping into the left back area it
seemed only a matter of time before the humping cam our way.
Strangely though, you would hardly have noticed it was 10 against 11
as Killie continued to frustrate the visitors, and the referee continued
to frustrate the crowd. Hearts adopted a shoot on sight policy which saw
shots coming in from all sides, though none of them (predictably)
bothered Combe. The game progressed in much this way for the remainder
of the time with Killie only making brief attacks up the park with the
lone striker of Di Giacomo after Coyne was withdrawn for Noble. Di
Giacomo made one lung bursting run down the middle which seemed to
aggravate a hamstring and he too was replaced by Anson in the 79th
minute. By this time Hearts had made their 3 substitutions, and young
Neil McCann pulled up after a challenge on the left flank and wandered
off for treatment.
With both teams now down to 10 men the game seemed a formality as the
clock ran down. Rhiann Dodds also made it into the Referees book (again
for dissent) and Hearts had another couple of free kicks to blast over.
With 2 minutes of time added on, Hearts had one final attack which
saw Combe make another superb save. The referee, finally accepting that
he’d done the best he could, signalled the end of the game and Killie
took all 3 points.
Killie: Allan Combe, Jamie Hamill, Ian Campbell (S/O 61),
David Lilley, Ryan O’Leary, Jamie Adams, Rhian Dodds, Gary Locke, Paul
Di Giacomo (Anson 79), Thomas Coyne (Noble 65), Stevie Murray
Hearts: Jamie MacDonald, Nerijus Barasa (Armstrong 70),
Marius Zaliukas, Saulius Mikoliunas, Christos Karipidis, Julien Brellier
(Divine 79), Neil McCann, Bruno Aguilar, Jamie Mole, Juho Makela
(Doherty 75), Michal Pospisil
Booked: Marius Zaliukas (Hearts) Dodds (Killie)
Sent off: Ian Campbell (Killie)
Referee: Steve Crichton
Assistants: Rod Williamson, Stephen Allan
Report by Stripey
