Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels claims he is being ‘slaughtered’ for being honest

KILMARNOCK manager Kenny Shiels has been stung by the reaction to his “honest account” of recent matches.

The Northern Irishman took stick in some quarters of the media for criticising the negative tactics of rivals Ayr United after Kilmarnock had eventually overcome the First Division side 1-0 in the semi-final of the Scottish Communities League Cup final at Hampden.

After losing 1-0 in the William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round to Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday, Shiels claimed that time-wasting by Hibs keeper Graham Stack wrecked Kilmarnock’s hopes of a cup double, which again brought criticism.

The Kilmarnock manager claims his honesty has backfired on him to the extent that he sees it as a “fault” rather than a virtue.

“I give an honest accurate account of how I see a football game and when I am asked questions I always give an honest answer,” he said, ahead of tonight’s trip to Dunfermline in the SPL. “I don’t like being evasive. I have to give a clear picture. But I see that as a fault in myself because I am getting slaughtered.

“I was slaughtered for what I said about Ayr, which is 100 per cent true, I got slaughtered for what I said on Saturday. It hurts when they do things like that I shouldn’t take that personally but all I am doing is giving an honest account of how the game went and sometimes you have to talk about time-wasting if it is there and it has a major impact. And what I said was true, and people have to understand this.

“We did DVD analysis and their goalkeeper was on the ball for seven minutes and 25 seconds. It is 100 per cent true. He was taking 18 seconds and 22 seconds from when the ball went behind for a goal kick, not him holding the ball. And when they scored it was alarming how it went up. I was frustrated, not angry. I don’t blame Graham Stack, I blame the fourth official and the referee, Iain Brines. We kept asking the fourth official to talk to the referee. Seemingly he did and the referee said that he told the centre-half to tell the goalkeeper. And that was the way they acted on it. I am not going to change but I am not allowed to talk about the opposition any more, that’s the situation I have got myself into.”

Bottom side Dunfermline won 3-0 at Rugby Park last month, a result which Shiels remembers all too well. “It will be tough, they gave us what for down at Kilmarnock when they beat us 3-0,” he said. “They are only one point behind Hibs and there is a lot of football to be played.”

Jim McIntyre is hoping a run of three successive home fixtures can be the turning point in Dunfermline’s battle for survival in the top-flight.

McIntyre could hand debuts to on-loan Rangers duo Jordan McMillan and Kyle Hutton, while captain Austin McCann and Paul Burns have recovered from injuries. “It’s about time we got a home win to get the monkey off our back and to stay in the league we have to put a run of results together,” said McIntyre.