Alan Cochrane @ Rugby Park
A cup tie that was on a knife edge right to the final whistle after 93 minutes, was settled in 82 minutes when Gavin Skelton thundered a shot off the bar and Manuel Pascali, who was the pick of the players on view tonight, bundled the ball over the Falkirk line, to take Killie into the next round.
Another high tempo first half from Kilmarnock gave the Killie support some optimism, but the interval was once again reached with neither team finding the net. While Killie had the better of the play, it was Falkirk who had the better chances, with Compton shooting over with the goal at his mercy, and then Moutinho missed his kick from a corner, again with the goal gaping.
Killie did make some half chances, with Russell looking sprightly through the middle, and Bryson and Hamill probing, but the Falkirk defence wasn't stretched often enough. Sammon had a turn and shot that was deflected for a corner, Hay wriggled his way past three defenders but his cut back was volleyed over by Fowler, and just before the half time whistle, Russell had a cross shot which evaded the keeper, the on-rushing Pascali, and the back post.
The second half, apart from that Killie goal, didn't live up to the first. A Kyle header from a Hamill cross was deflected for a corner, and Sammon had a shot from the left that was scrambled clear, but until Pascali's goal, there weren't too many talking points. Until the 92nd minute that is, when Lima hit a fantastic 18 yard shot, and Cameron Bell pulled out an even better, wonderful diving save, to push the ball round the post, and send Killie into the next round of the cup.
Jimmy Calderwood was understandably delighted. Like everyone else in the ground, he was sure that last minute shot from Lima was heading for the net, and therefore Killie would have been heading for Falkirk on Wednesday, so he was as grateful to Cameron Bell for that save as every Kilmarnock supporter in the ground. That match at Pittodrie on Saturday now has even more spice.
Kilmarnock: Bell, Hamill, Hay, Fowler (Owens), Wright (Skelton), Ford, Bryson, Pascali, Russell, Sammon, Kyle (Taouil)
Falkirk: Olejnik, McNamara, Twaddle, Monteiro, McLean, Lima, Arfield, Bullen, Moutinho, Flynn (Marceta), Compton (O'Brien)
Referee: Mike Tumelty
