Kilmarnock 2 - 0 Motherwell: Killie show steel to do Kelly proud

A DIFFICULT day negotiated with distinction in so many ways for Kilmarnock. And that will be delighted in by followers of the very team whose treble hopes they took away at Hampden last week in so emotionally-charged an occasion.

In somehow finding it in themselves to produce a fine performance against a Motherwell side that seemed more overwhelmed than their hosts, Kenny Shiels’ side have set it up for their beaten Scottish Communities League Cup final opponents Celtic to be able to win the title at the home of their bitterest rivals this lunchtime.

It was remarkable that Kilmarnock could hold it together so compellingly as their football and family commitments once again pulled them different ways.

They sought to respectfully show their solidarity with their absent team-mate, Liam Kelly, who lost his father Jack after he had a heart-attack in the national stadium at the end of the final, and celebrate with their supporters who came in good numbers to boost the attendance to 6,878, and who came to celebrate and revel in a first ever League Cup win, and first trophy success. As was their right. They chanted for Kelly during a full-time lap of honour with the cup, while the players sported T-shirts declaring ‘we are all with you’ and with No.8 on the back, when they first appeared for their pre-matcch warm-up.

And when he scored the first of his two goals, Paul Heffernan, pictured inset, pointed to his black armband, as a T-shirt was held up to the crowd by his team-mate. The personal could not be subsumed by the professional. “All we could do was hope to make Liam proud, and I hope we did that,” the Irish striker said. “We are a tight group, all very close, and it affected everybody massively.

“When you have won the cup, you would expect everybody to be buzzing on the training ground but it wasn’t like that.”

Kilmarnock manager Shiels looked like a man utterly drained by the “high, low, high” of the past week, one in which he said there hadn’t been a lot of sleep and an “emotional imbalance”.

Yet, the week’s distance, and removal from the scene, of great tragedy for the Kelly family, allowed his players yesterday to “celebrate a little bit more than last week because that was a happy-sad situation. This feels better than last Sunday,” he said. “I kept thinking if we had weakness in our character we could have a little bit of self pity in our performance. People deal with grief in different ways and I wasn’t sure how our boys would. But they showed great character.”

Kelly’s name was mentioned in his team-talk, Shiels said, but it wasn’t “elaborated” on. The Kilmarnock manager spoke with the player this week and he will “be given the space to grieve”.

“You can pay lip service and ask him how he feels but he is not the sort to look for sympathy. I can’t get inside his heart to see how he is.” Club and supporters have certainly bonded in these tumultuous times for the Rugby Park side. There was a sense of them being willed on by those in the stands not to let sunny afternoon satisfaction disappear behind any clouds. Even devoid of the suspended Dean Shiels and Mohamadou Sissoko, and with Kelly unavailable, from early on only a scoreless draw or home win appeared the possible outcomes.

Then Gary Harkins started to pick out passes, Garry Hay and James Fowler took a grip in midfield, and the openings began to be teased. Dietar van Tournhout was first to produce a moment of genuine goalmouth incident, keeper Darren Randolph forced to dive at his feet. Then on the stroke of the interval, Heffernan was only inches wide with a low effort clipped across the goal. He was to be denied for only a further four minutes of action, a smart run in behind matched by a ball for Fowler. Heffernan’s first hit was blocked by the Motherwell keeper but the rebound fell neatly for him to slip under Randolph’s body.

Goal No.15 from the striker arrived courtesy of a penalty that was despatched with power and precision. The decision awarded by the referee Crawford Allan was contested vigorously by Tom Hateley, the player giving it away when a shot from Hay induced from him what looked a bit like a two-handed save as he lay on the deck. His manager Stuart McCall certainly wasn’t rushing to declare an injustice. Refreshingly, he offered entirely the opposite view. “It was a penalty,” said the Fir Park manager, in no mood to offer any defence for his side’s sorry showing. There was no sense within it of a team bursting to claim runners-up slot in the SPL, which could add a million pounds more to their coffers than their current, third place standing.

“I’m angry and disappointed,” he said. “Killie deserved to win. We started the game OK but we were really poor throughout. We didn’t have a shot in anger and just didn’t get going. It’s not often I’ve said that this season. I don’t want to be overly-critical because my players have been consistent over the season. It will be all about how we bounce back from this. We have seven games to go and everything to play for. We need a strong reaction.”