Liam Kelly brace helps Kilmarnock start Shiels’ ban on high note

KILMARNOCK midfielder Liam Kelly netted a double in his side’s 2-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday, but admitted it was strange not having manager Kenny Shiels on the sidelines.

SCORERS:

Kilmarnock - Kelly (45pen, 86)

Referee: C Charleston

Attendance: 8,790

Shiels is serving a four-match touchline ban but it did not seem to have a negative effect on the visitors, with Kelly blasting home a penalty to give his side the lead on the stroke of half-time after Jamie Langfield had been sent off for bringing down Borja Perez.

Kelly netted a second from the edge of the area in the closing stages and said: “We will have to get used to it for another three games, but we were in a similar situation last season when the manager received a ban. Jimmy Nicholl is fantastic, though, he’s an experienced coach and has been a manager himself, so he can take care of that side of the game without any problem.”

Kelly was too far away to see the penalty decision himself, but added: “It’s not ideal to take the penalty after a delay, but you try to shut it out and treat it like a penalty on the training ground. It gave us a goal at a great time.

“If there’s contact there it’s a penalty. Any contact is going to upset Borja’s rhythm, especially after running from his own half.

“It was pleasing to get the second goal as well. We had been under the cosh in the second half, but that second goal took the pressure off a bit.

“The team wants to kick on. Unfortunately, I’m suspended for the game against Hibs next week, but we have a lot of games coming up over the festive period so it’s vital to take as many points as possible.”

Aberdeen midfielder Gavin Rae was frustrated to see his side suffer a fifth consecutive home game without a win. The Dons have slipped from second to seventh in the SPL table in recent weeks amid an injury crisis that shows no signs of abating.

Rae said: “It’s frustrating to see the penalty given and I certainly didn’t think it was a red card because there were enough men back to defend even if he had gone round Jamie. Those decisions sometimes go for you and sometimes they don’t.

“We had to change formation, taking Rory Fallon off, and you’re up against it with ten men. That said, I thought we acquitted ourselves well in the second- half. It was close whether the second goal was offside or not. I’ve not seen it myself yet, but some of the guys were saying he was just onside. It’s frustrating because it puts a gloss on it for Kilmarnock.

“Although we were comfortable enough, the tempo was slower than on Tuesday night. With a lot of boys out we were unable to freshen things up, but we can’t use that as an excuse. I thought the guys who started today could have done a lot better.”