Kilmarnock 1
KILMARNOCK ascended to the giddy heights of second place in the Premiership but this still felt like an opportunity missed.
Steve Clarke’s side extended their recent bad habit of conceding the first goal for a sixth game in succession but on this occasion, unlike the previous four, they couldn’t turn a losing position into a victory.
Rory McKenzie’s equaliser just before half-time seemed to give them a platform to go on to rack up a fifth win on the bounce, but they created little of note in the second half and had no complaints about having to settle for a draw.
The point still carries them above Celtic and into second place, although the smattering of boos at full-time was a stark reminder of the level of expectation around Rugby Park these days.
“It was scrappy and scruffy,” admitted Clarke. “A lot of huff and puff. But it’s another point. That’s 13 points from 15 and if you had said to me five games ago that we would have 20 points and be sitting second in the league, I would have said ‘yeah, okay’.”
Hamilton’s wait for a win in October goes on and they will surely look back on the chance missed by James Keatings early in the second half as a pivotal moment in their ongoing misfortune. It had seemed inconceivable that he could miss from a matter of yards after Dougie Imrie had laid the ball right into his path and yet, to the astonishment of everyone inside Rugby Park, the forward somehow squirted the chance wide. The forward, to his credit, did not try to hide from the blame.
“I’m beating myself up about that chance at the back post,” he said. “I’ve come off the pitch thinking I should have scored and we should have taken the three points. I’ve apologised to the lads for that.”
Keatings had a rival for the game’s pantomime villain in team-mate Steven Boyd who endured a brief and inglorious cameo. Arriving as a 78th minute substitute, he received his first yellow card after 86th minute and then collected another as play moved into injury time.
Hamilton had done enough by then to secure a first draw of the season to move another point further away from relegation trouble.
“We knew it would be difficult to come down here and take points,” said manage Martin Canning. “But we believed we could and were maybe a bit unfortunate with Keatings' chance.”
Keeping with recent tradition, Kilmarnock let the opposition score first. It had been fairly scrappy until that point, the home team dominant in terms of possession but Hamilton enjoying the best chance when Aaron Tshibola almost bundled the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Twelve minutes before half-time, however, Kilmarnock wouldn’t be quite as fortunate. The source of the chance was again a Keatings free-kick, arrowed with venom towards the near post where Imrie stooped to ensure it found a route beyond Jamie MacDonald.
Hamilton looked good for a half-time lead but would come to regret a temporary lapse in concentration in the final minute. Greg Stewart’s ball across the box looked nicely teed up for Tshibola to tap in but in nicked McKenzie to steal both the ball and the glory. Kilmarnock were level.
The expectation then was that Clarke’s side would go on to gradually crank up the pressure in the second half to claim a winning goal but instead ran out of steam and ideas.
“When you don’t play well it’s important you don’t lose,” added the manager. “We didn’t play well today but we didn’t lose. That shows a good mentality.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here