WHAT a start to the season for Kilmarnock's skipper Kevin Kyle as he led
his men to an emphatic victory over Hamilton Accies with a magnificent
display of captaincy and good old-fashioned centre forward play.
Kyle gave a master class in the art o f leadership yesterday, and at last
we are seeing the former exile in England regularly fulfilling the great
promise he had showed as a youngster when his spell at Sunderland saw the
Stranraer-born striker play eight times for Scotland. His cap career
seemed to have finished in 2004, but on yesterday's display, George Burley
should recall Kyle. Like the national side, he deserves a second chance.
His goals since joining Kilmarnock from Coventry City in January were the
difference between relegation and SPL survival for the Rugby Park side,
and yesterday he notched two of the best you will see all season as he
inspired Kilmarnock to a win.
The first Kyle goal came after 35 minutes of an entertaining match.
Hamilton had started pretty well, and if Derek Lyle had connected with
Simon Mensing's hard cross, we might have seen a different game.
Long before he scored, Kyle, pictured below, had already shown his threat,
shooting the ball wide after veteran defender Marvin Andrews completely
missed his clearance. Even before that, Connor Sammon should have put the
home side ahead, going one-on-one with Tomas Cerny in the Accies goal but
scooping his shot over.
Andrews came up to head a corner just wide before Gavin Skelton's low
half-volley went narrowly past for Kilmarnock.
Hamilton's best chance fell to Richard Offiong after 27 minutes. He cut in
from the left and sent a low shot which Cameron Bell did well to divert
wide, Portuguese import Flavio Paixao unable to net the rebound from a
very tight angle.
With ten
minutes remaining in the half, the busy Mehdi Taouil was fouled wide on
the right. Garry Hay sent in a wickedly curling free-kick that deceived
the Hamilton defence, but not Kevin Kyle. He slid in to make a
powerful contact, (right) the volley slamming high into the visitors' net
for a stunning opener.
If that was a bad goal to lose, the next was the result of Kyle's
brilliance and a large dollop of the serious disarray which afflicted
Hamilton.
Beset by injury and suspensions, the Accies played no fewer than six new
signings. Between the starting XI and the bench, there were 11
nationalities represented in the Hamilton squad – only Celtic had as many
yesterday.
Perhaps it was having a dressing room resembling the Tower of Babel that
caused the obvious problem in Hamilton's play. At times, their defensive
players seemed barely on nodding terms with each other. A course of speed
dating would normally be recommended, but as we found out in midweek,
football doesn't like that kind of thing.
At the start of the second half, Andrews seemed to move rightwards and the
Trinidad and Tobago international was posted missing – he paid the penalty
as he was immediately replaced – when Kyle struck again after 51 minutes,
only seconds after the impressive Spanish left back Luis Ruibales's corner
had hit the bar at the other end.
Kyle's second goal will be remembered by every one of the 5,307 spectators
who were fortunate enough to see it. Craig Bryson sent the ball down the
inside left channel, Kyle bested the hapless Grant Evans
and, striding forward, fired a sumptuous shot from fully 25 yards high
past the despairing left hand of Cerny.
Wonderful stuff, but it was only one aspect of Kyle's all-round display as
the captain, clearly in the best physical shape of his career, showed that
he could gather and distribute as well.
It was no one-man
show. Sammon chased everything, and Taouli carved open the Hamilton
defence several times. Simon Ford and Frazer Wright were stalwart in
defence, and Jamie Hammill was a willing partner to Kyle, getting his
reward after 67 minutes when the visitors' defence was again all over the
place, Sammon putting Jamie Hamill through to slide the ball
under Cerny.
To their credit, Hamilton rallied and Offiong – by now their sole attacker
– was desperately unlucky to see his fine shot come back of Bell's
right-hand post. Ford almost made it four for Kilmarnock, but his header
went just over.
Kilmarnock coasted home and the only thing missing was a hat-trick for
Kyle. His manager Jim Jefferies pointed out that Kyle was only just back
from injury and said: "Kevin has had no games for us, and if he can do
that from scratch then he's probably going to get more. We took a wee
gamble in playing him today, and it paid off.
"When we last got into the top six, we had somebody who scored 19 goals
for us, so if Kevin's going to get 19 or 20 then we'll be in with a good
chance of doing that."
Hamilton manager Billy Reid admitted his side needed time to gel but said:
"I saw plenty of positives today – Luis Rubiales will be a fantastic
player and one or two others showed that they'll be decent additions."
No doubt they need time to learn each other's lingo. Meanwhile, George
Burley should give Kevin Kyle a call. It's good to talk.
Sandy's Match Pic's are
HERE
