Kilmarnock 2 - 0 Aberdeen: Killie keep up fine form to make top six as Dons hit rock bottom

WITHOUT the fanfare that followed their defeat of Rangers last weekend, Kilmarnock crept quietly into the top six yesterday with a result that was no less important than that which they produced at the same venue six days earlier.

On a horrible, windswept day that cramped their customary style, the Ayrshire side demonstrated a willingness to do the dirty work too.

With just one defeat in eight matches – admittedly, the 6-3 trouncing by Inverness – Kilmarnock are at last finding the consistency that has eluded them all season. And in Gary Harkins, they have a player growing in stature. Supporting Paul Heffernan up front, he scored one – albeit with the help of a defensive blunder – and set up the other in a performance that earned him a standing ovation when he was substituted.

As their manager, Kenny Shiels, pointed out later, it had been far from a vintage display, but it was the perfect way to follow a win against the Old Firm, so often a difficulty for mid-table sides. “The outcome was really good, but I am not happy with the way we played,” said Shiels. “There is going to be a lot of talk over the next month about changing to summer football. The overhead conditions today were unacceptable.”

It was a miserable day, for the purists, for fans, but mainly for Aberdeen who slipped to the bottom of the SPL with hardly a shot on goal of any note. Craig Brown, their manager, insisted that his team had not been inferior to Kilmarnock, and that they didn’t deserve to be propping up the top flight, but there is no escaping the club’s current predicament.

Asked about his own position, Brown said: “I don’t succumb to pressure. I don’t feel pressure. What I feel is a determination and commitment to ensure that we do not put a proud club like Aberdeen in this position.”

Even accounting for the filthy conditions, which hurled the ball about as though it were a crisp bag, Aberdeen were guilty of carelessness, especially in the first half. In a sometimes comical opening period, Scott Vernon stubbed his toe in the act of crossing, Rob Milsom struggled to pick out even a ball boy with his mysterious crossfield pass and Kilmarnock were gifted an early goal they hadn’t yet earned.

Poor Jason Brown had been recalled to the Aberdeen first team in place of David Gonzalez, but it doesn’t matter how often you change your goalkeeper, if he is not protected by his defenders, it makes little difference. Anxious to make an impression in his first match since confronting the same opponents in September, the former Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper could barely disguise his frustration with Andy Considine, who ensured that one of Brown’s first duties was picking the ball from the net.

The first rule for centre-halves defending a long ball is not to let it bounce, but Considine did just that when one came hurtling through the middle, passing up at least two opportunities to clear, and leaving himself in the end with a difficult header back to Brown. Short with his attempt to find the goalkeeper, the Aberdeen defender could just about claim that the gusting wind worked against him, but he shouldn’t have got himself into that mess in the first place. Predictably, Harkins nipped in, tried to convert from a tight angle, and when the ball came back off the goalkeeper’s body, poked in the rebound.

In truth, the weather was hampering both sides. On one occasion, when Cammy Bell was presented with a tricky passback to clear, the Kilmarnock goalkeeper’s choice expletive could be heard all around Rugby Park. He had little else to do in an untidy first half, unless you count the weak header by Vernon that he easily gathered.

Brown had no more to do at the other end, apart from a curling shot by Dean Shiels that he collected comfortably, and a Youl Mawene passback early in the second half that briefly threatened to provide him with another embarrassment

Somehow, conditions deteriorated in the second half, when the squally outbursts intensified. In one particularly traumatic episode, all manner of debris seemed to be swirling around Brown’s penalty box, which looked for a moment like the snowscene inside a paperweight.

These, it seemed, were not the circumstances in which to introduce James Dayton, but Shiels decided to bring on his winger in place of Paul Heffernan, and the reward was almost immediate. Gary Fisher slid a low ball forward to Harkins, whose flick beyond a square defence sent the substitute scampering in on goal. A calm finish is not easy after a lengthy sprint, but Dayton pulled it off with a low shot into the bottom corner.

Aberdeen retrieved a two-goal deficit last weekend, but there was no prospect of it yesterday. “I am totally confident that we can turn it round,” said Brown. “A year ago, we were in the same position and we turned it round. And we have more resources this time.” There was little sign of them here.