Kilmarnock

We asked for your views on Kilmarnock's 1-0 defeat against Hibs.

Here's what some of you said:

James: Once again we are talking about the referee. This guy was out of his depth, inconsistent to say the least. The sending off was ridiculous. After the penalty we didn't get at Fir Park you really despair about the standard of referees. It's always going to be a close game with Hibs and we didn't get going as we have in the last couple of games.

Jim: The game was played in difficult conditions which didn't allow free flowing football. We didn't look our normal selves, too many long balls up the park. We must take our chances and we did have a few. I also thought the referee was poor in some of his decisions, especially the sending off. Back to Rugby Park and hopefully three points.

Stephen: If Thursday served us up a wonderful feast with all the trimmings, this was cold, unappetising leftovers. Everything we did well against Aberdeen was inexplicably abandoned to resort to long ball tactics, which we persisted with despite it being totally ineffective. We just can't seem to put together two good games in a row, and it's costing us.

Adam: Very disappointing display. How can one player have a free shot on goal when you've got 11 men in the box, of which four of them were spectators watching the guy score, not one of them even attempted to get the ball! After such a brilliant display against Aberdeen, let ourselves down.

Robert: Sick of the incompetence from the officials. We're the third cleanest side and the fourth most fouled side in the league but have seven red cards. Apart from two, the rest are down to abysmal refereeing.

Jim: Danny Armstrong made it impossible for Killie to get anything out of the game. Another sending off and another suspension to contend with. If we continue with this folly, I am afraid we won't pick up enough points to keep us safe from relegation. Again, things must change.

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• Nicky Cadden has contributed to goals in his last three games in the Premiership (one goal, two assists).

• Kilmarnock have failed to score in seven of their 20 games, only Ross County (nine) have failed to score more often in the Premiership this season.

• Hibernian have scored in their last four games in the Premiership, their longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of five games from 3 November 2024 to 30 November 2024.

• Kilmarnock have had seven players sent off in the Premiership this season, more than any other team in the competition.

Watch all the action from Hibernian's 1-0 victory over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership.

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Defeat at Easter Road ends a four-game unbeaten run for Derek McInnes' men, as Kilmarnock have now failed to win at Easter Road in their last 11 attempts.

Kilmarnock lost Joe Wright to injury before Danny Armstrong was sent off in the second half, with Hibernian midfielder Nectar Triantis nodding in the only goal of the game.

Whether you were at Easter Road or following along from home, we want to know your thoughts Killie fans.

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Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes: "I thought the game was pretty open in the first half. It was two teams playing different shapes. We had to deal with the unusual movement of two wingers playing as nines. Hoilett and Boyle made good runs in behind. We were a bit passive defensively at times. I thought we were far better in the second half.

"We started the second half really well. We had a good ascendency and there was a lot of nervousness coming from the Hibs team, I thought, at that point. They were not finding any real rhythm.

"We were doing the majority of the attacking and trying to ask the question, and just at that moment we go down to 10 men - inexplicably. The first one is a booking. Danny [Armstrong] is foolish and I'm not happy with [Armstrong for] that one. The second one is not even a foul. He is too late going in and he has tried to make the ground up, but he's done everything not to make the tackle and make a block. [Jack Iredale] has followed through and kicked into Danny. There is not a foul there. [The referee] has arrived at the wrong decision.

"We have lost Danny through a suspension and we lose Joe [Wright] through injury. We just need to wait and see. This is a testing time. Joe landed awkwardly and he never settled after that. Thankfully we had Robbie Deas to step in today. We are now going to be short. Hopefully Joe is not too serious. We'll get it scanned tomorrow."

Cam Wanstall
BBC Sport Scotland

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Derek McInnes opted to go unchanged following his side's resounding 4-0 victory over Aberdeen on Boxing Day.

He believed that performance to be Kilmarnock's "best attacking and defensive display" of the campaign but there was to be no repeat in Leith.

The Ayrshire outfit held up looked solid defensively throughout, while Kyle Vassell and Bobby Wales worked well feeding off scraps.

It was clearly a breakdown in transitional play within the midfield that kept their unwanted 11 match winless run at Easter Road.

The home team managed to largely contain Danny Armstrong, Fraser Murray and David Watson and won with relative ease.

That growing frustration may have played a part in Armstrong's eventual red card, which was Kilmarnock's league-high seventh dismissal in the Premiership this term.

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Liam Polwarth stood out for Kilmarnock despite their struggles in midfield, winning possession 12 times and having a 74.4% pass accuracy.

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Kilmarnock go unchanged following their resounding 4-0 victory over Aberdeen on Thursday.

Centre-back Robbie Deas returns to the bench after serving a suspension.

Matty Kennedy and Stuart Findlay remain sidelined by injury.

Follow our live coverage here.

Hibernian: Smith, Miller, Bushiri, Iredale, C Cadden, Triantis, Newell, N Cadden, Campbell, Hoilett, Boyle.

Substitutes: Bursik, O'Hora, Levitt, Amos, McKirdy, Hyeok-kyu, Obita, Moriah-Welsh, Gayle.

Kilmarnock: McCrorie, Mayo, Wright, Ndaba, Armstrong, Watson, Polwarth, Lyons, Murray, Vassell, Wales.

Substitutes: O'Hara, Burroughs, Deas, McKenzie, Mackay-Steven, Magennis, Cameron, Anderson, Donnelly.

Hearts are eyeing a move for Kilmarnock winger Danny Armstrong, with the 27-year-old about to enter the final six months of his deal at Rugby Park. (Scottish Sun), external

Read the rest of Sunday's Scottish gossip.

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Hibs striker Mykola Kuharevich and midfielder Rudi Molotnikov could return after missing out recently with groin issues.

Defender Warren O'Hora will be checked after playing through recent games with an ankle issue, but Marvin Ekpiteta and Kieron Bowie are still out.

Kilmarnock welcome back defender Robbie Deas after suspension, while winger Matty Kennedy could return after injury.

But Stuart Findlay is a long-term absentee.

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Kyle Vassell insists Kilmarnock were never concerned about their league position after their excellent recent form guided Derek McInnes' side up the Premiership table.

Hibernian's recent resurgence means perhaps they've flown under the radar, but Kilmarnock have also enjoyed a fine end to 2024 that has them knocking on the door of the top six.

Eight points from a possible 12 in their last four games has them eighth in the league, seven points clear of bottom side St Johnstone and suddenly looking up instead of down.

"We've never been worried about where we are in the table," Vassell said after the 4-0 win over Aberdeen on Boxing Day.

"It's a long season and this league is so tight, a couple of games, a couple of wins can turn your season.

"It happened to us last season. We've not been worried, we're not worried about that [relegation]. We've got too much in that dressing room to worry about that, we're always concentrating on going up."

The Killie skipper also singled out one teammate for praise. After a quiet start to the season, Fraser Murray has played an important role in Kilmarnock's renaissance and contributed two assists on Boxing Day.

"Fraz was excellent against Aberdeen," Vassell said. "It's a tough one for him because he's got one of the best players at the club in his position, in Matty Kennedy.

"So it's hard for him to get a chance, and then when he gets a chance, to take his chance because you have to be excellent to keep Matty out of the team.

"But with Matty's injury, it's really allowed him to keep on and get some confidence and get some self-belief.

"Every pre-season I've been at the club, he's been the best player pre-season, hands down. He's got bundles and bundles and bundles of ability and talent. And he's now just showing it to everyone.

"He's excellent, he can do both sides, left foot, right foot. He's a very talented boy."

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• Hibernian have only lost one of their last 12 Scottish Premiership meetings with Kilmarnock (W7 D4), going down 0-1 in November 2022 under Lee Johnson.

• Kilmarnock are winless in 10 Scottish Premiership visits to Hibernian (D3 L7), losing their last five in a row and failing to score at all in their last four.

• Hibernian have lost their final league match in five of the last six calendar years, winning the other 3-1 at Dundee United in 2021.

• Excluding years in which they were relegated, Kilmarnock have only lost their last Scottish Premiership match of a calendar year in one of their last seven such games (W3 D3), a 0-1 defeat to St Mirren in 2019.

• Kilmarnock's Bruce Anderson has scored in three of his last five Scottish Premiership appearances against Hibernian, including once in both of his last two against Hibs.

Sportscene pundits Scott Allan and Steven Naismith analyse Kilmarnock's 4-0 win against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

We asked for your views on Kilmarnock's 4-0 Boxing Day win against Aberdeen.

Here's what some of you said:

Frank: An outstanding team performance from start to finish. Special mention for Fraser Murray - his best performance in a Kilmarnock shirt so far.

Andrew: Kilmarnock dominated from start to finish. Every Kilmarnock player was outstanding and very hard to pick out a man of the match. Fraser Murray, David Watson and Danny Armstrong just about edged it but to be honest, this was a great team performance.

Anon: We played the ball on the deck and had a functioning midfield. Please let this not just be a Christmas miracle! Well done to Derek McInnes and the whole squad. The fans know we are capable of a 90 minute performance like this more often.

David: Dominant performance by Killie only marred by the poor inconsistent refereeing once more. Graeme Shinnie is a poor man's David Watson and should've been booked in the first half. Questions also need to be asked of Nicky Devlin. Scottish international – you're having a laugh!

Paul: Terrific performance and a thoroughly deserved three points. No failures at all in the team. Fraser Murray was outstanding, Lewis Mayo was a Rolls Royce at the back, whilst Kyle Vassell and Armstrong had their best games of the season by far. Wonder if they will get credit for a change.

Sean: It was a complete team performance! We could have easily scored more than four goals as we completely battered Aberdeen for 90 minutes. I believe there is more to come from this team. Onwards and upwards, come on Killie.

Stuart: Team got it right from the start, pressing and spreading the play. Said too often we're a second half team needing the team talk but not today. Made Aberdeen look very average and they ran out of ideas very quickly.

Isobel: Excellent throughout the entire game. We have finished with 11 men, a clean sheet and four goals in the net. Great backing from our support. Starting XI were fab, subs played their part and added to our goals. Happy as Larry.

Watch highlights as Kilmarnock win 4-0 against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

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• Kilmarnock are undefeated in their past four games in the Scottish Premiership, their last longer unbeaten streak was from 1 September 2024 to 20 October 2024, a run of five games.

• Aberdeen have failed to win in their past seven games in the Premiership, their last longer winless streak was from 24 January 2024 to 13 March 2024, a run of 11 games.

• Kilmarnock have scored in each of their past four games in the Premiership, scoring seven goals in that run.

• Kilmarnock have scored in their past four games in the Premiership, their longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of eight games from 1 September 2024 to 3 November 2024.

• Bruce Anderson has scored six goals in the Premiership this season (one in this game), more than any other Kilmarnock player.

• Daniel Armstrong has assisted four goals in the Premiership this season (one in this game), more than any other Kilmarnock player.

Kilmarnock produced one of their best Scottish Premiership performances of the season to thrash an Aberdeen side who have now gone seven matches without a victory.

The home side dominated throughout as Kyle Vassell, David Watson, Innes Cameron and Bruce Anderson all found the net to produce an outstanding 4-0 win.

Killie supporters, have your say on today's match at Rugby Park here, external.

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Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes: "I am very pleased. I think the finger has been pointed at us this season for not scoring enough goals or keeping enough clean sheets, so there is a lot of validation for that. We put a big demand on ourselves.

"They have assembled a team with a lot of money and have good, talented players. We know we can't allow their players to enjoy the fixture. We had to be all-in with that.

"We defended our box really well. Every game needs goals. It took a long enough time to get the first. We were thinking at half-time that it could have been more.

"Any victory against Aberdeen is going to be hard-fought. The players worked extremely hard and were united today. The crowd got involved, which really helps us. From the outset we carried a fight and posed them problems.

"All-in-all, it was a perfect performance from us. A strong three points."

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland at Rugby Park

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Derek McInnes's side could, and arguably should, have won by more.

Finding the net has proved difficult for them recently – they had not scored more than one goal in a game since 3 November – but they do have a resoluteness and organisation in defence that means they are tough to break down.

Once they got their noses in front here it always looked like an uphill task for Aberdeen.

They soaked up everything their visitors had to offer, which was not a whole lot. Kilmarnock outworked their opponents all over the pitch and did not allow Aberdeen to establish any kind of foothold in the game.

Kyle Vassell epitomised the effort. The big striker did everything his manager would have asked of him.

He ran the channels, used his physicality to great effect, brought others into the game, got his goal and was unlucky not to get another when he was denied by a good save from Dimitar Mitov.

The goals eventually came late and it was no more than the home side deserved. Continue to perform like this and Kilmarnock will soon be pushing into the top six once again.

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Corrie Ndaba, David Watson and Liam Polwarth all impressed this afternoon for Kilmarnock but there is no seeing past Fraser Murray for this one. The left-winger threatened throughout by continually creating chances and providing two terrific assists.

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Derek McInnes makes three changes from the Kilmarnock side that drew against Motherwell last Friday.

Bobby Wales starts alongside club captain Kyle Vassell up top, with Marley Watkins sidelined by an injury sustained at Fir Park.

There is a change in the Killie goal as Robby McCrorie returns in place of Kieran O'Hara, while the third switch sees winger Daniel Armstrong come in for attacker Bruce Anderson.

Follow our live coverage here.