We probably deserved to win, although three goals was perhaps being a bit kind to us. However, we should probably have scored a few against St Johnstone in the league a few weeks back, so this makes up for it. Kilmarnock had chances to score, but we stood firm to take a much needed victory.
Killie will probably complain about the penalty that led to our second goal and they might have a case - but we should probably have had one a few minutes earlier. The spot-kick, as with the first, was scored by Paul McGowan who was absolutely outstanding. He was back in the side in place of Nigel Hasselbaink. It was a surprising choice, but the Dutchman came off the bench to grab the third - although there were doubts about that one too.
You'd have thought with all the press he'd been getting - and our manager comparing him to Wayne Rooney - that we might have paid a bit of attention to Paul Heffernan. Erm, no. First, we easily let him get to the ball after Harkins slid a pass through to him, but fortunately Craig Samson kept it out and the rebound bounced past Dean Shiels. Not content with that, David van Zanten cheaply gave the ball away to the Irishman who beat three players on his way from the halfway line to the edge of the Saints penalty box. The shot looked decent even after it took a deflection, but Samson was alert enough to keep it out.
Fortunately, we created a chance ourselves after that - although there didn't seem to be much danger when Vanzy's cross was met by a rather soft header from Steven Thompson. However, Killie keeper Cammy Bell seemed to think otherwise and turned it behind for a corner. Mis-placed passes, poor crossing and a failure to retain possession meant we didn't create a great deal after that and Kilmarnock always looked the more dangerous side on the attack. A great pass from Garry Hay sent Heffernan scampering away and he coolly rounded Samson before brilliantly tucking the ball away from a tight angle. However, it was irrelevant as he'd been given offside long before the Killie fans started cheering.
Saints finally managed to get a shot of note just before the half hour mark, but Kenny McLean's effort was straight at Bell and lacked the sort of power needed to cause the Scotland international any problems. Sadly, as I was typing that sentence I almost missed what happened next - looking up just in time to see Paul McGowan head in a cross that had apparently come from Jeroen Tesselaar on the left. It was a great header from such a small player and fully justified Danny Lennon's decision to restore him to the side.
Too often this season McGowan has been playing in far too deep a position to make any meaningful attacking contribution, however he almost made another a few seconds after his goal when he brilliantly played in Steven Thomson, but he chipped the ball onto the roof of the net. We then had another fine example of refereeing consistency. Gary Teale beats Mohamadou Sissoko and is then nudged over - no penalty. Jim Goodwin nudges over a Kilmarnock player in the same way - free-kick.
Still, the officials made up for that one just before half-time. McGowan played a great ball to Thomson who tried to whip in a cross that then smashed off the hand of Zdenek Kroca. His arm was out, but he had no time to get it out of the way and referee Stephen Finnie waved play on. Then his linesman offered a differing opinion, so he awarded a penalty after all. The travelling support and players were furious at the decision, but McGowan was unnerved and coolly smashed the penalty into the bottom corner. The protests continued before play resumed and again at half-time, with even manager Kenny Shiels entering the field of play to complain. I look forward to the Scottish Government holding a summit to investigate this behaviour...
It was clear the visitors were going to be fired up for the second half and we couldn't afford to do anything stupid - like get booked for shoving folk when a throw in is giving. Well done big Steven Thompson for that one. However, he almost made up for it when he just failed to get onto the end of a Teale cross before meeting a McGowan delivery with a powerful header that Bell clawed away. After that it was time for Goodwin's weekly booking, which seemed rather harsh.
Kilmarnock had brought on David Silva and James Dayton in a bid to change things but it was Manuel Pascali who nearly halved the deficit when he let rip from 30 yards, Samson producing a great save to turn it over. A Villa effort from closer range a few minutes later sailed harmlessly over the bar. A late tackle on McLean saw Pascali become the first Kilmarnock player booked - goodness knows how it had taken them so long yet we'd had to cautions for nothing. Killie's final change saw them bring on an extra striker, Ben Hutchison replacing Harkins before Fowler comically got himself booked for acting like a big girl when the officials decided Tesselaar's rubbish throw in hadn't actually ever made it onto the pitch.
An earlier than usual Saints change saw Hasselbaink replace McLean with 25 minutes left and he should have had a great chance to score just moments later when we tried to counter, only for Teale to play the ball behind him and he had no chance to recover the situation. Heffernan then showed how it's done by picking out Shiels (the player, not his manager dad) with a pass that looked more like a shot. Perhaps that’s why the former Hibbee put his effort over the bar.
Someone from the Main Stand shouted for fresh legs and Lennon duly obliged. It was an odd change though, with Thompson - beginning to tire - being replaced by David Barron. It was his first appearance of the season but putting him on for Thompson robbed us of vital height. However, we still had McGowan - who saw a lob go just over the bar, a tap in chalked off for offside (the flag was up well in advance) and another shot bounce narrowly wide.
However, Kilmarnock were desperate for a way back into the game and Kroca was spearheading the charge after the earlier penalty. After being fouled by Vanzy - who got himself booked - he headed a free-kick wide before thumping a corner off the bar. Thankfully, they were unable to set up a nervy ending and with six minutes left Hasselbaink put the game beyond doubt. Superb work on the right from Vanzy allowed him to send in a cross and the diminutive Hasselbaink was all alone as he headed the ball into the net to wrap things up.
Kilmarnock believed it was no coincidence that Nigel was unmarked, telling Mr Finnie he had shoved whoever was meant to be marking him. Aye, good luck convincing anyone that someone as small as Hasselbaink has pushed a big defender. Killie still tried to press even though the game was gone, Kroca again hitting the bar. Teale wasted a couple of late chances to make it four - squaring to the offside Hasselbaink when clean through before bringing a decent save from Bell in stoppage time.
For once, it didn't matter that we'd missed a fair number of chances because we put three of them away. You can't really ask for much than that.
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