Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock fans - at half-time, what was going through your head? Surely you didn't foresee a win?

What went so wrong in the first half, and what went so right in the second?

Let us know your thoughts here.

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Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes tells Sportsound: "Superb. A proper man's performance second half. We finished the first half doing more of what I asked us to do. But any time you lose two poor goals from set-plays, it can knock the stuffing out of you. It affected us first half.

"We wanted to play around their shape but we needed to be braver and more intelligent with our work. We spoke at half time about what we expected of ourselves, and to a man everyone was outstanding.

"Watson's goal was the pick. It was outstanding, and a top performance from a group of lads who don't know they're beat. We are so motivated to do well and that was a huge step towards the top six.

"Sometimes you need half-time, to give them a gentle reminder of what's required. Some players needed woken up, reminded why they were in the team, reminded of their responsibilities.

"It's easy for me and my staff to point things out, but the players are the ones who go over the line and get the job done.

"Once we got one, I thought we'd get two. Once we got two, I thought we'd get three. To get five is fantastic."

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Marley Watkins. Impossible to properly pick between Watkins, Kyle Vassell and Danny Armstrong.

Their work rate was relentless, and before they actually scored it was crystal clear a goal was coming.

Vassell threw himself about all over the pitch, Watkins won a penalty and scored a brilliant goal, and Armstrong survived a terrible first-half to help spark the comeback.

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland

In 30 years of covering Scottish football, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. Five Kilmarnock goals in 18 second-half minutes and a complete collapse by a St Mirren side who were streets ahead in the first half, and 2-0 up at the interval.

So solid at the back in the first 45, Saints couldn't deal with two long balls after the break, and found themselves level after Killie scored twice in four minutes thanks to Kyle Vassell and Danny Armstong's penalty.

Then Marley Watkins flighted in a lovely header and Killie were ahead. Another long ball, another Kyle Vassell goal. 4-2.

Then the best of the lot. Young David Watson picked the ball up not far inside the St Mirren half and headed for goal. As St Mirren backed off, he kept going, beat a couple of defenders and arrowed one into the bottom left-hand corner of a by then shell-shocked visiting keeper Zach Hemming.

A turnaround that was as remarkable as it was unexpected, given how good Saints were before the break. Team-talk of the season from Derek McInnes?

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Marley Watkins says his Kilmarnock teammates want to "put things right" after they were dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Aberdeen last weekend.

Victory on Saturday would go some way to atoning for the exit in the eyes on many supporters as they take on fourth-placed St Mirren in the race for Europe.

"It's a massive game," Watkins said. "Obviously, we weren't at it last Saturday. It hurts a lot because of the manner we went out. We want to put things right.

"It's about how we react. We owe it to the supporters, ourselves and the staff to a better performance, a winning performance.

"We've done well to this point and put ourselves in a good position. This is the business end of the season so we don't want to let it go to waste and ruin everything we've worked hard for. We're determined to stay high and finish as well as possible."

With 10 goals for the campaign in all competitions, Watkins' place in the team has rarely been under threat - even since the arrivals on Kevin van Veen and Greg Stewart in the winter window.

"Two quality players that came in, and I'm sure we'll see big moments from them before the end of the season," the striker added. "I think Kev was struggling with a little bit of an injury. We all know he's got goals in him, and obviously Greg's got great quality."

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Saturday's crunch meeting between European hopefuls Kilmarnock and St Mirren could be "too hard to call", says former Scotland goalkeeper Gemma Fay.

Stephen Robinson's side leapfrogged the Rugby Park outfit the last time the teams were in league action a fortnight ago.

Now as the two Europe-chasers get set to meet in Ayrshire, a game of fine margins could well be on the cards with just one point in it ahead of kick-off.

"I think it's a pretty close one," Fay told BBC's Scottish Football Podcast. "It's really interesting when you say fourth-placed St Mirren against fifth-placed Kilmarnock.

"Both managers have done exceptionally well there. It's going to a be a really exciting match.

"It probably is too hard to call based on the way both teams are playing at the moment, so I'm not going to sit on the fence, but it might be a draw."

This is a biggie in the race for fourth place and a crack at Europa Conference League qualifying next term.

Just one point separates the sides, while Kilmarnock have had the recent upper hand in this fixture, although the margins are slim.

The Rugby Park side are unbeaten in six league meetings with the men from Paisley, but only two of those have been victories.

Since back-to-back 3-3 thrillers in 2021, one in the Scottish Cup which St Mirren edged on penalties, goals have been hard to come by.

In the past five contests, Kilmarnock have only conceded once, while scoring four.

Derek McInnes' side were second best in their cup exit to Aberdeen last weekend but have reserved most of their best displays for home, where they have amassed 28 of their 41 points.

St Mirren have taken seven points from three games since a surprise loss at Livingston without really hitting their early-season heights.

With the three teams above these two in the table all in the Scottish Cup semi-finals, the chances are very good that fifth will offer up Europe, an arena where St Mirren last played in 1987 and Killie have been just twice this century.

Both teams are well organised by canny managers and anything other than a tight, tense affair would be a surprise.

• Read our full Premiership Picks

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes says he has used St Mirren as a yardstick this season. (Herald - subscription required), external

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• Kilmarnock are unbeaten across their last six Scottish Premiership meetings with St. Mirren (W2 D4), keeping a clean sheet in four of their last five league games against the Buddies.

• St. Mirren are winless in their last 10 away games against Kilmarnock in the Scottish top-flight since a 3-1 win in May 2013, though each of their last four have ended level (L6).

• Kilmarnock have won four of their last seven home league games (D2 L1), though did lose last time out at Rugby Park against Rangers (1-2); Killie haven’t lost back-to-back home matches in the Scottish Premiership since February 2021.

• St. Mirren have won 12 of their 29 Scottish Premiership games this season (D6 L11), the same number they won over their 38 total league matches last season (W12 D10 L16).

• Kilmarnock’s Derek McInnes has only lost one of his 30 games as a manager against St. Mirren in the Scottish top-flight, though he has drawn 16 such matches against the Saints, more than versus any other opponent (W13).

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Although Saturday's game against St Mirren "won't decide anything" in the race for a top-six finish, Killie manager Derek McInnes stressed the important of the fixture.

There's only one point between the Saints in fourth and Killie in fifth and McInnes is pleased to still have something to play for this season.

“I had a meeting with the players and we spoke about how last season were big games but big games for the wrong reason," the 52-year-old said.

“Fighting relegation isn’t something that we want to go through again so we have got to enjoy this part of it.

“There is nothing worse either than – well there is, relegation fights are worse – but meaningless games, sitting in mid-table, can’t get in the top six, and just seeing out a season.

“We have meaningful games, which pleases me. Saturday is probably the biggest so far but there will be bigger ones after that, and that’s the way it should be.

“We are going to need our fans. We need every advantage we can. Our home form has been strong.

“I think it will feel like more than just a normal league fixture at this stage of the season.

“It’s important our club and players are ready to meet fire with fire and take on that challenge.

“It doesn’t decide anything on Saturday but we know the importance of the game.”

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Kilmarnock will be without winger Matty Kennedy until after the international break.

The 29-year-old missed Killie's Scottish Cup defeat with a knee injury and will also sit out Saturday's Premiership game against St Mirren.

“It’s nothing too sinister," manager Derek McInnes said. "We got him scanned and he’s got a grade one strain on his medial ligament. Fortunately for us it means he will be back after the international break, he’s not going to miss too many games.

“He should be available for Hearts when we come out of the break, it’s normally a 10 days to two-week injury.

“We missed him last weekend, there’s no doubt about it. Matty has been in such good form and it’s important we adapt better than we did last week. I didn’t think we were great in the game.

“But we have obviously got a very important fixture this weekend and a really good game to look forward to.”

Killie could also go into the St Mirren game without on-loan striker Kevin van Veen, who tweaked his hamstring in the warm-up against Aberdeen.

“He’s not trained this week, Kevin,” McInnes said. “He had a quite bad hamstring injury early on in his career and it’s in a similar area. He was aware of it in the warm-up during the game on Saturday and it became clear he wasn’t able to go on, which was a real blow for us.

“Hopefully he will be okay for the weekend but it’s still up for debate.

“We signed him to be a big player and we have to get him fit to be that player for us.”

Kilmarnock host St Mirren in Premiership action on Saturday, knowing that a win would go a long way to securing a top-six finish.

Who would you pick to start if you were in Derek McInnes' position?

Put yourself in the manager's shoes and pick your Killie XI here.

Sandy Armour
Fan writer

Last season was an horrific one for Killie fans; we played without a discernible style of play, frequently made schoolboy errors, and constantly changed the starting XI.

Sadly, we chose to replicate those bad habits as we put in our worst performance of the season at Pittodrie.

We were facing a team devoid of confidence as they fight relegation, but rather than getting in their faces from kick-off, we sat back and let them build up a head of steam.

A bit of perspective is needed though; we still have the opportunity to make this a memorable season if we can cement a top-six place.

With that in mind, the home game against St Mirren game this weekend is massive and is the perfect fixture to get us back on track.

Our recent record against the Buddies is excellent, so I fancy a Killie win. It would be the perfect way to erase the cup nightmare.

Sandy Armour is editor of the Killie Hippo fanzine

Kilmarnock's focus is on sealing a Scottish Premiership top six place following their Scottish Cup defeat by Aberdeen, says captain Kyle Vassell. (Herald - subscription required), external

Read Monday's Scottish Gossip

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There was a glaring omission on the Kilmarnock teamsheet when it dropped on Saturday morning - Matty Kennedy.

The 29-year-old has arguably been the Ayrshire side's best player since the turn of the year, meaning his absence through injury already had Killie on the back foot at Pittodrie.

As Derek McInnes' side turned in an out-of-sorts performance and exited the Scottish Cup, Sportscene pundit Billy Dodds identified Kennedy as a big loss.

"A big blow going out the cup, of course," the former Aberdeen striker said.

"There was a real loss to them today in Matty Kennedy. Just for that imbalance to negate Aberdeen's system as well.

"Things just did not go for them. I'm sure they'll freshen up and go again."

Danny Armstrong did provide a lifeline late in the first half, but was withdrawn in the second period as Kilmarnock desperately looked to shake things up.

During the game, former Aberdeen captain Willie Miller said having both of their dangerous wingers off the park left the Rugby Park outfit looking blunt.

"When you've got Armstrong and Kennedy on the field, you know you've got width and quality in these areas," he said. "They're difficult to pin down."

"From the creativity point of view, they are able to whip balls in and really test defenders.

"Unfortunately, with Kennedy not being available and Armstrong going off, it's a big ask to for Kilmarnock to turn this around."

We asked for your thoughts after Kilmarnock were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Aberdeen.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

James: Bad day at the office for Killie. [Derek] McInnes does not put subs on at the right time, bringing subs on after 70 minutes was too late.

Thomas: Why did we have no midfield? Why were we second to every ball?

Steph: The biggest game of our season and we failed to turn up. [Matty] Kennedy was a big miss, but his absence was no excuse for resorting to hoofball.

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Derek McInnes says he intended to bring Kevin van Veen on for Kilmarnock in their Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat to Aberdeen, but the striker said he had injured himself in the warm-up.

"A wee bit of a blow is [Kevin] van Veen gets injured in the warm-up," he told Killie TV. "It was news to me really until we went to make a change.

"We were discussing the change and went to make it after 60/65 minutes and he was aware of it while he was warming up, just the tightness of his glutes and the injuries he's had before, he didn't wan't to take any risks.

"People will be wondering why he didn't come on. It was exactly for that reason."

Were you supporting the team at Pittodrie or following along from home, Killie fans?

Either way, let us know your thoughts here.

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes tells BBC Scotland: "Huge disappointment. We never quite got to the levels we’ve been for the majority of the season. We anticipated Aberdeen being as direct as they were and trying to bring a physicality to it.

"They won a lot of second balls in the early part of the game and get the first goal, which is important for a team struggling with confidence.

"Our better moments of the first half came at the last part of the half. We score a very good goal. Good movement from Vassell and good movement from Danny.

"We get in at half-time to pick the bones of what we want to be in the second half and we make a change. It’s nothing against wee Davie Watson as he was battling away manfully but we just wanted a change of shape.

"I thought we missed Matty Kennedy today. Matty’s in such good form and is such a good ball carrier for us."

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Nick McPheat, BBC Sport Scotland

This will be a sore one for McInnes and his Kilmarnock side. The absence of the injured Matty Kennedy meant they moved to a 3-5-2 shape, which looked unfamiliar to them in a disjointed first half.

The half-time introduction of Fraser Murray allowed McInnes to revert back to a 4-4-2 system that has been serving them so well, but the away side failed to capitalise on the goal they pulled back just before the break.

They cannot allow the hurt of this defeat to derail their pursuit of European football.

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Lewis Mayo may be the only Kilmarnock man who gets pass marks from today's performance. The centre-back impressed by winning his own battles and barely putting a foot wrong throughout.