Killie 2011-12 Pre-Season & Friendlies

Kilmarnock 1 Blackburn Rovs 4
(Aug 6th 2011, Rugby Park, 3:00 pm KO)

Kilmarnock played Blackburn Rovers in a pre-season friendly at Rugby Park, and went down 1-4.

The sides were fairly-evenly-matched, but Rovers' pressed the ball a lot better, were much more positive and had a level of quality throughout their side which the Ayrshiremen couldn't match on this occasion.

After nine minutes of midfield sparring, the crowd had something to cheer when Rovers' Junior Hoilett was wrestled to the ground inside the box, but referee Iain Brines waved away the English side's appeals.

Killie immediately attacked down the left, Silva and Heffernan combining to set-up Gary Harkins, but, before he could fire home Heffernan's cut-back, Scotland squad centre back Grant Hanley's challenge saw him fire the ball past the helpless Paul Robinson for an own goal.

But Killie's lead was short-lived, in 12 minutes Hoilett's flick past his marker was handled by Patrick Ada, a clear penalty, clinically converted by David Dunn.

The home side were still getting their heads around that one when they went further ahead a minute later, Jason Roberts terrorising the soft centre of the Killie rearguard, before firing past Kyle Letheren from the edge of the box.

Both sides made and missed several chances in mid-half, but, after half an hour, Rovers increased their lead with their second penalty of the half, Roberts doing the business from the spot after his run in on goal was blatantly interrupted by a tug on the jersey from Ryan O'Leary, who couldn't live with Roberts' pace.

Killie continued to push to close the gap and David Silva cut in from the left but shot over, before Paul Heffernan had the ball in the Rovers' net but saw his celebrations curtailed by an offside flag.

The former Sheffield Wednesday front man then missed an absolute sitter, right on half time, a mere three yards from goal.

Kenny Shiels rang the changes after the break, sending on six replacements and was rewarded with a much better half from his men, who took the game to their Premiership visitors from the resumption.

But, apart from forcing Robinson to make a full-stretch save from a well-worked free kick move on the edge of the Rovers box in 57 minutes, they barely bothered their visitors.

To a chorus of booing from the home fans, in 65 minutes, David Goodwillie made his Blackburn bow, conscious of how much Roberts, the man he had replaced, had bothered the home defence.

Cue a typical Goodwillie goal, intercepting a terrible Jamie Fowler back pass in 76 minutes to crack home his first Blackburn goal, one well-received by the 314 visiting fans in the Chadwick Stand behind Jaakkola's goal.

Kilmarnock: Letheren (Jaakkola 46); Clancy (Fowler (46), O'Leary (Kroca 46), Ada, McKeown (Hay 46); Buijs (Pursehouse 65), Dayton (Fisher 75), Kelly (Pascale 46), Harkins (Shiels 46), Silva (Gros 75); Heffernan Hutchison 62).
 

Kilmarnock 1 Sunderland 2
(July 27th 2011, Rugby Park, 7:45 pm KO)

Kilmarnock play Sunderland in a pre-season friendly at Rugby Park.

Kilmarnock 1 Preston NE 1
(July 18th 2011, Rugby Park, 7:45 pm KO)

Kilmarnock drew 1-1 with Preston in a pre-season friendly at Rugby Park.

Winger James Dayton superbly gave Killie the lead in the first minute, surging past two defenders in a run from the halfway line before finishing emphatically.

Gary Harkins went close to doubling Killie's lead with a dig from distance that flashed past the post.

Then keeper Cammy Bell had to look lively to deny Preston's Keith Treacy on two occasions.

The equaliser arrived five minutes into the second half when former Liverpool ace Mellor finished smartly from the edge of the box.

And Mellor could have won the match two minutes later but after rounding sub keeper Kyle Letheren he couldn't find the net.

A moment of controversy late in the game left Shiels raging at ref Steven O'Reilly after Preston's Seanan Clucas had launched a two-footed tackle on Liam Kelly.

The Killie man reacted angrily to the challenge and both players were booked but Shiels said: "In a real game I can understand why Liam Kelly would be booked.

"But the challenge on him was really bad and to receive a yellow card for that in a friendly was authoritarian."

Pascali later had an effort cleared off the line by trialist Alex Cooper as the game finished all square.

Shiels said: "We are getting close to completing a deal for Ben Hutchinson and I think we can do something with regards to that in the next day or two.

"I hope we will have him on board in time for the start of the season against Dundee United."

Kilmarnock 2 Ross Co 1
(July 16th 2011, Rugby Park, 3pm KO)

Kilmarnock took the lead through a cracker from Harkins in the 1st min! Bujis added a 2nd.

Gary Harkins on the Ross Co Post-Match..."It's a bit early to be scoring goals like that and hopefully I can keep a few for the rest of the season. It was good to get out there. We played well so it was worthwhile and we could have scored more. Pre-season is just about building yourself up for the new campaign and we've a friendly against Preston on Monday before the season starts on Sunday. I'm really happy to be here and looking forward to the challenge. We had a good time in Ireland worked hard. It's a good set of lads we have here at the club."
On Buijs's Goal.... "Danny scored a good well-worked goal and I'm pleased for him. You can see he's a good player with a good pedigree."

Kenny Shiels on the Ross Co Post-Match..."It was a lovely strike. I always liked Gary (Harkins) and he fits like a glove in our team. He has goals and creativity. When we arranged the friendlies we wanted to play some Scottish teams to acclimatise the foreign players. Ross County are a good side and gave us a tough challenge. We had Tomas at left-back in the first half and it was a bit difficult for him to get out. He's naturally rightsided and did well at right-back in the second half.
On Trialists Tomas Piermayr and Pelayo Gomez.... "He's a bit behind in fitness but was getting there as the game moved on and he's a good player. Gomez is 18 and an investment player - I'd love a chance to develop him. He played for Marbella but was at Brentford for a while although it didn't suit him as they played the ball over the top all the time and he ended up stuck in the reserves."

Crowd: 1,307.

Brechin City 4 Kilmarnock 4
(July 12th 2011, Glebe park, Brechin)

Brechin City and Kilmarnock shared eight goals in a thoroughly entertaining pre-season friendly at Glebe Park last night.

City started strongly against their Premier League visitors and grabbed the lead after four minutes.

Paul McLean made a strong run into the Killie penalty-area and passed to David McKenna who had his shot blocked by James Fowler but the ball fell kindly for Carcary who had an easy task in slotting a left-foot shot past Kyle Letheren in the Killie goal.

The visitors hit back five minutes later though to level the match.

Danny Buijs played a great pasd through the City defence to Danny Racchi (right) whose left-foot lob from just within the box gave Craig Nelson no chance.

City had a chance to regain the lead a couple of minutes later when Carcary broke free on the left and crossed into the box for McKenna but his header was well held by Letheren.

Killie were moving the ball around well and a Gary Harkins shot was well saved by Nelson in the 19th minute.

City though grabbed the lead for the second time four minutes later.

Carcary was fouled in the box by Manuel Pascali and Molloy stepped up to blast the spot-kick home.

Killie made ten changes at the break with Fowler the only player remaining from the starting eleven while City replaced keeper Nelson with David Scott with Graham Weir coming on for Brian Fairbairn.

Killie exerted a lot of pressure on the early stages of the second-half without creating any clear-cut chances and they fell further behind in the 70th minute to a fine City goal.

Carcary picked up the ball in midfield and sent a long pass wide on the left to Weir who bore in on goal before firing home a beauty into the bottom corner of the net.

Killie though reduced the deficit three minutes later when James Dayton curled a superb free-kick beyond Scott into the right top corner of the net.

City were proving to be every bit as good as their more illustrious opponents and they increased their advantage in the 78th minute when McManus rounded keeper Cameron Bell for goal number four, but Killie again reduced the deficit a minute later through trialist Ben Hutchison and with a minute remaining they drew level when a great right-foot strike from Gary Fisher gave Scott no chance.
 

Coleraine 0 Kilmarnock 2
(July 9th 2011, Coleraine, Ireland)

Ballymena Utd 0 Kilmarnock 0
(July 7th 2011, Ballymena, Ireland)

Former Ajax full-back Mitchell Pique moved a step closer to joining Kilmarnock after appearing as a trialist.

The Dutch defender has held talks with Killie boss Kenny Shiels after leaving ADO Den Haag and after playing 90 minutes against the Irish League minnows the 31-year-old could become Killie's eighth summer signing within the next 24 hours.

Shiels said: "Mitchell did well because it wasn't easy for him to come in and play 90 minutes.

"We have had a chat with him and we will see how things progress over the next day or so. We will hopefully make a decision soon."

Shiels gave debuts to Danny Buijs and Zdenek Kroca and while Killie hogged early possession it was Ballymena who had the first shot when Mark Surgenor rifled over.

It took until 26 minutes for Killie to register their first attempt but Ben Hutchinson's free-kick sailed over.

Killie were finding their feet and Buijs' 20-yard effort crept past the post before David Silva's dipping shot was spilled but nobody was there to follow up.

Killie striker William Gros came close with an acrobatic volley in 36 minutes and Hutchinson was then foiled again by keeper Aaron Kerr.

Shiels made five changes at the break and sub Paul Heffernan almost scored with his first touch but crashed his drive narrowly over.

Silva took over free-kick duties from Hutchinson but his effort flew high and wide from 20 yards.

Hutchinson thought he had given Killie the lead in 70 minutes but Michael McQuitty denied him.

Ex-Ipswich kid Rory McKeown was also introduced for Killie before Pique showed good energy late on to race through but Denver Gage stuck out a leg to save his side.

Shiels added: "It was a good workout and I was pleased with the new players. We didn't penetrate enough but our passing was good."