Alan Cochrane @ Rugby Park
If Jim Jefferies was annoyed at the way Killie lost a goal, and he was, he was unstinting in his praise of the game as a whole. He thought the players gave everything, tried to play football along the ground, and it was an end-to-end battle that kept the crowd buzzing. In fact, despite a tricky surface that had been hardened and made slippy by the frost, both teams put on a show that created a great atmosphere in the crowd.
The first half was perhaps too frantic to be creative, and neither team had someone to put a foot on the ball and try to control things. Miller and Zemmama came closest to that role for Hibs, but Killie were at their most dangerous when crossing high balls into the middle, and Ma-Kalambay was probably the busier of the two keepers. Stokes had an early shot which went straight at Brown, Nish had a couple of chances with headers, one of which went wide, one he missed completely, but for Killie, Kyle, Burchill, Invincibile and Bryson were all thwarted by good saves, last ditch tackles, and one occasion the back of Bamba's head. The big Ivory Coast centre half had a terrific game though, and was one of the main reasons that we had no goals at the break.
The second half was better, with players coming to terms with the pitch, and Killie had an early scare when Zemmama volleyed over from a Riordan cross, but it was Killie who made the breakthrough in 54 minutes. A long cross from Hamill wasn't held by Ma-Kalambay, and Burchill was onto the bouncing ball in a trice to head into the net. Frazer Wright almost doubled the lead with a header after a corner, but the Hibs keeper made up for his earlier slip by diving to touch it round the post.
Hibs equaliser came when Steve Conroy, who had an excellent game, blew for a foul. The Killie players were so busy arguing with him about it that they switched off, Nish took the free kick quickly, pushed it through to Stokes, and the big striker ran through strongly and gave Brown no chance with a powerful shot.
That gave Hibs a lift and Kilmarnock defenders were having to throw themselves into tackles and to block shots, one especially from Zemmama that looked bound for the back of the net. At the other end, Wotherspoon had to clear a Kevin Kyle header off the line with the keeper beaten, but the biggest scare for the home crowd came in the 90th minute when Riordan, who had been well shackled throughout, hit a looping shot from outside the box, it hit the crossbar, and went over. It would have been unjust if that had robbed Kilmarnock of a point. That was the least we deserved.
Kilmarnock: Brown, Hay, Fowler, Wright, Ford, Bryson, Taouil, Invincibile, Kyle, Hamill, Burchill (Russell)
Hibs: Ma-Kalambay, Hogg, Murray, Bamba, Wotherspoon, Miller, Rankin, Zemmama, Nish, Riordan, Stokes (Benjelloun)
Referee: Steve Conroy
