This time seven days ago, Hibs were basking in the afterglow of a sublime
steamrollering of much-fancied Motherwell; a week later and they're
trying to work out how Jim Jefferies' previously work-a-day Kilmarnock
outfit did such a comprehensive job on them that the men from Leith can
arguably count themselves lucky to come away from Rugby Park with
anything to show for their efforts.
As it was, there's so much latent class in the Hibs squad that Derek
Riordan almost conjured a moment of magic in the dying seconds when his
dipping shot from way outside the area smacked off the crossbar just
moments after Colin Nish, who was once again outstanding, almost headed
Hibs to a win at the death.
That, though, would have been a travesty for a Kilmarnock side that
scrapped for all its worth and deserved at least a point from a contest
that Jefferies described as "a great game that was intense, end-to-end
stuff played in a great atmosphere between two teams trying to play
football". Even a disappointed but understandably sanguine Hibs manager
John Hughes conceded that a draw was a fair result.
Both managers had reason to rue the manner in which their sides
conceded. Mark Burchill and Anthony Stokes' goals were scored within
five minutes of each other, and both owed as much to their opponents'
defensive frailties as to their own quick-thinking.
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Hughes
may have questioned the circumstances of Burchill's opener for
Kilmarnock, when Hibs keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay dropped Jamie's Hamill's
high curling cross, fell over Chris Hogg and spillied the ball for the
Kilmarnock striker to simply head home, yet the fault lay with the
visiting keeper who continues to look inconsistent when the ball is
crossed into his area.
Jefferies was equally unhappy about the award of the free-kick with
which the canny Nish quickly put Stokes in the clear, the Hibs striker's
sweet strike hauling the visitors back onto level terms just five
minutes after Burchill had opened the scoring.
The Killie manager would be better advised to ask his players why they
were busy remonstrating with referee Steve Conroy – who, by the way, had
an almost flawless game – when they should have been shutting up shop
and cruising to three points.
Yet if the execution of the final pass, particularly in the final third,
was a bit hit-and-miss, neither manager could criticise his players for
the tempo of a game that didn't fall below frenetic, particularly after
the break when the two sides went at it like two packs of rabid
terriers.
If the second half was a scintillating spectacle, it came on the back of
a frustrating first-half of huff and puff. It was 45 minutes in which
Hibs had the more chances, while Kilmarnock made up for the low quantity
by the quality of the opportunities they carved out. While Hibs made do
with hopeful, but ultimately futile long-range efforts, their hosts
fashioned two clear scoring opportunities, both of which involved
muscular interventions from Kyle.
The Killie target man was in superbly abrasive form. His collision with
Sol Bamba was at times a bone-jarring scrap between two real
heavyweights, yet it was the Ayrshire side's talisman who came out on
top more often than not. Or, as Kyle put it: "Sol's 6ft 6in or
something, he's massive even bigger than me and he jumps like he's got
moon boots on – it was a good old- fashioned tussle with him." All three
of the home side's chances before the interval either fell to Kyle or
were created by him, and it was only two fantastic saves from Ma-Kalambay
that kept Kilmarnock at bay, while in the second half only the presence
of Riordan on the post kept out a Kyle header that looked net-bound.
The first Ma-Kalambay save came just 20 minutes in when the Belgian
keeper scrambled to his left before acrobatically tipping Kyle's header
just around the corner of the post. If that save was good, it was
followed by an even better one after Kyle had muscled his way onto a
speculative punt forwards, winning the header and putting Danny
Invincibile clear through on goal, only for Ma-Kalambay to save.
Keepers, though, are remembered for when it goes wrong. It was his
fumble which led to Killie's goal and the "two lost points" which his
manager referred to afterwards.
Sandy's Match Pic's are
HERE
54 mins
