The end of the campaign can't come soon enough for my liking. It has been a memorable season with the magical League Cup win, but since then we haven't been producing the goods. Yes, we've only lost twice since then but we haven't won at all. We could really do with a win to prevent that from hanging over us all summer and to end our shocking away run to boot. I can't remember a season when we didn't manage at least one win after the split and it would be very disappointing if this was the first.
This is the third time we've gone to Rugby Park this season thanks to the SPL's ludicrous split. I suppose we shouldn't complain too much - they could have handed us a third trip to Pittodrie instead! As places to finish the season go it's a nice short trip and a ground we managed to win at after the split last season. We're still waiting for our first win over Kilmarnock this campaign, which isquite a turnaround considering we beat them three times last year. Both sides like to get the ball down and play so it could be an entertaining game, even though neither of us has anything to play for.
Last week we saw quite a few changes for the game against Aberdeen and it'll be interesting to see if there are any more - although we can probably assume Lewis Guy won't be starting after last week's incident! Steven Thompson will also be left out to ensure he doesn't get banned but we do have Kenny McLean available and he'll probably take over from Jon Robertson. Dougie Imrie had a decent display against the Dons, but with the way his season has been going that'll probably means he gets dropped!
It'll be interesting to see how many of the players that are leaving are involved tomorrow. There's not much point in playing the loan trio - although it might be worth it to wind up Kenny Shiels - while Paul McGowan was injured last week and could miss out again. Craig Samson is on his way but could end up playing after Grant Adam's absence last week. It would also be a waste of time to play Graham Carey, Sam Parkin or Sander Puri as they're all off too. Darren McGregor, David Barron and Thomas Reilly will all be missing again but Reilly's fellow young forward Jack Smith may get another taste of the first team.
Kilmarnock should have been playing in the top six this season. They needed just one win from home games against ourselves and Dundee to seal their place and somehow contrived to only take a point - rather annoyingly as if they'd won both games it would have helped us greatly on the relegation front! It was a bit of a choke from Kenny Shiels' men as it was the second year in a row they've missed out on a place in the top half and they could end up lower than last year's seventh place.
If you listened to Shiels you could be forgiven for thinking the Killie side was made up of 11 young kids born within a stone's throw of Rugby Park. He keeps going on about how he decided not to bring in loan players after losing a few members of his squad in January. This may be a dig at us (although falls down somewhat when you think of the impact of our loan players in the cup final) but it's total nonsense as they have plenty of experienced players - and you don't earn any extra points for playing your youngsters.
Ah, say the Kilmarnock fans, but in the summer we'll have to replace the likes of Goncalves while they'll still have their youngsters. A fair point, until you realise there is no difference between signing a guy on loan for six months and signing someone on a six month contract before he almost certainly signs for Rangers. Step forward Kris Boyd. After being binned by the Portland Timbers he returned to Killie and has managed a couple of goals, including one against us. However, there is some debate as to whether his signing has done more harm than good as his arrival forced Kilmarnock to be a bit more direct. Perhaps that's really why they missed out on the top six rather than because of those nasty loan players everyone else apparently has.
In fairness to Shiels he does have some talented youngsters coming through the ranks. Mark O'Hara, Lee Ashcroft and Ross Barbour look good in defence, with Rory McKenzie now establishing himself in the squad and Ross Davidson and Jude Winchester looking handy in midfield. Since the turn of the year the lesser spotted Willie Gross has also managed a few games, with Craig Johnston looking impressive of late on the wing. But Shiels seems to forget that in January he did sign Rabiu Ibrahim and the experienced Sammy Clinging and before adding Nigerians Gabriel Reuben and Papa Idris, with rumours suggesting they're rather more experienced than they're letting on...
Anyway, enough about Shiels and his moaning (the above three paragraphs should prove his reputation as a wind-up merchant is fully intact). Boyd isn't the only one who'll probably be playing for Rangers next season as goalie Cammy Bell has signed a pre-contract with them. Quite why he wants to waste the next few years of his career in the SFL when he should be playing in the top flight or the Championship is anyone's guess as he has produced some terrific performances in the last few years. Long serving duo Garry Hay and James Fowler are likely to stick around, with ex Saint Jeroen Tesselaar having another year left on his contract. He's had a few injury problems but not as bad as Manuel Pascali and James Dayton, who will be desperate for the summer to be over and pre-season training to begin.
While Boyd is always a threat he's not the only forward we need to watch out for. Paul Heffernan - another player with an injury hit campaign - has had another decent season and has got 12 goals, with Cillian Sheridan having 10. With the pair of them you wonder why Shiels had to bring in Boyd, although in fairness Sheridan was injured in the early part of 2013. Spanish forward Borja Perez has also caught the eye with some decent displays and is capable of scoring and creating in equal measure.
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