Quite how we managed to win this by so much I'm not really sure. Kilmarnock could have been out of sight after 20 minutes or so - but how many times have we said that about Saints this season? We equalised with our first attack and after that we had a humdinger of a game. It looked like being the same old story in the second half with plenty of possession but no end product - but then Steven Thomson had us in front and Nigel Hasselbink and Steven Thompson extended the advantage to ensure the inevitable late goal was meaningless.
It's a result that all but secures our SPL status for another year and gives us a great chance of finishing top of the bottom six. It would be a shame if we don't at least manage our best ever SPL finish but, for once, we should be able to relax after the split.
As expected Jeroen Tesselaar was fit enough to start after injury. Slightly more surprising was that Steven Thomson was also back in the team. The biggest surprise, however, was that Dougie Imrie was dropped to the bench, where he was joined by Gary Teale. There was some good news with the Killie team as Paul Heffernan was missing, but Dieter van Tornhout was a threat up front - as Celtic know all too well. Manager's son Dean Shiels was also there, with Gary Harkins in the midfield engine room. There was a welcome return to the bench for Liam Kelly after the sad loss of dad Jack in the wake of the League Cup triumph.
In our last home game we were behind after three minutes but we tried to better that impressive achievement this afternoon. Harkins pounced on a loose ball and then fired it towards goal, desperately unlucky to see it hit the outside of the post and go away from goal. For some reason we seemed far too willing to back of Harkins and let him wander about our defence and he should probably have done much better than shot wide from the edge of the box. We couldn't get a grip and were in grave danger of suffering another embarrassing home defeat, some comic defending almost gifting Killie the lead as we tried and failed three times to clear the ball before eventually getting it away.
The inevitable happened, unluckily enough, in the 13th minute. There seemed no danger when Paul McGowan went on a run but he refused to pass and the ball was stolen away. Suddenly Kilmarnock were on the attack and when veteran Garry Hay played in van Tornhout he was always favourite to score, the Belgian setting his sights before slamming the ball out of Craig Samson's reach into the bottom corner. The only complaints were about the shoddy Saints performance as Kilmarnock fully deserved their lead.
They looked to extend that and there was another goal 10 minutes later - but somehow it came at the other end. David van Zanten and Steven Thomson had been struggling but the latter played a wonderful through ball through to the former, who had plenty of time to square it Steven Thompson. The big striker slid in and got just enough on it to force it home, Cammy Bell getting a good hand to the ball but not enough to stop it trundling over the line before it could be cleared. We were suddenly buzzing and Nigel Hasselbaink seemed to have got the better of Mohamadou Sissoko before being hauled to the ground so of course Killie got the free-kick!
The little Dutchman tried to right that wrong in the best possible way as he managed to evade a few challenges before having a go from the edge of the box - his shot looking destined for the top corner before Bell brilliantly turned it behind. Hasselbaink then tried his luck at creating when he got to the byline and picked Thompson out, but this time the tried and tested "slide in and score" approach was scrambled away by Bell. We then lost Graham Carey right on half-time to injury with Imrie taking his place. Hasselbaink had another go following a superb turn and wriggle free from McGowan but should probably have passed on this occasion as Bell was always likely to save the shot.
The start of the second half saw us back to normal - lots of the ball, lots of passes but unable to do anything of note in the final third. Hay then shot wide before my laptop was almost wiped out by a Killie player knocking the ball out. Cheers for that! Jim Goodwin hadn't been having the best of games but it was still a surprise to see him hooked, the legendary Hugh Murray coming on in his place. And no sooner that happened than a sub made a difference, although it was Imrie rather than Shuggy. The forward had the ball in plenty of space on the left and when he put it in the mixer Thomson appeared at the last minute to head past the despairing Bell.
Things got even better midway through the half. McAusland went on a meandering run upfield and then messed up his pass, only for the Killie defenders and Hasselbaink to be slow to react to the loose ball. Sissoko gathered it and was then barged off it by Hasselbaink, who charged forward and found himself one on one with Bell. He kept his nerve and tucked it away before the Killie protests began. It looked like the Dutchman had fouled Sissoko with a clear shove but the officials decided there had been no infringement.
Kilmarnock had been trying to make a change before the goal and still made it anyway as James Dayton replaced Lee Johnson. It was written for his first involvement to be a goal but thankfully he smacked his free-kick into the wall. Our final change saw the welcome return of Darren McGregor, not seen since going off with a serious injury against Dundee United in August. He was given a fine reception as he replaced the hard working Hasselbaink. Imrie took on the role of small striker beside Thompson and it almost paid off as he whacked a shot towards goal that Bell did well to beat away.
Sissoko almost made up for the earlier problem with 10 minutes left when the ball fell to him at the edge of the six yard box but he slashed it wide, that attempt coming seconds after Danny Racchi had replaced Hay. If you're like me you'd have been worried we'd somehow manage to screw this up, but those fears were dispelled six minutes from time thanks to some defending straight out of Pro Evolution Soccer. Lewis Toshney got the ball and tried to clear it. Instead he succeeded in hitting it against Thompson, who suddenly woke up, took a touch and hit a sweet as a nut strike around Bell into the bottom corner. Not bad considering he was injured!
There was a nice touch a few minutes from the end when Liam Kelly was clapped on by both sets of supporters as he replaced James Fowler. Mair nearly lost his head when he tried to clear the ball only for Sissoko to take it with his boot and fire in a shot that Samson blocked, but seconds later he could do nothing as Dean Shiels ran through before smashing one in from the edge of the box. Suddenly the jitters were back. McGowan had a go from even further out a few seconds from the end but Bell was always going to keep it out. van Torhout then brought a superb stop from Samson in stoppage time that could have set up a nervy final few seconds.
But the hard work had been done. We finally have our first league win of the year, even though we were destroyed in the opening quarter of the match. Let's just hope we can build on it and rattle in a few more wins before the summer.
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