Kilmarnock... 2
Motherwell... 0
Saturday 9th February
2013
@ Rugby Road Stadium
Kilmarnock
This game is the first of three trips to Scotland in a row. It will be my first experience of Scottish Premier league football in the flesh and I'm a little apprehensive as I'm not quite sure what to expect.
The weather is not too bad still a little rain about but the weatherman says that it will brighten up later around kick off time.
Kilmarnock make two changes to the line up that beat Inverness CT in the Scottish cup last weekend, Rory McKeown replaces Manuel Pascali and Paul Heffernan goes up front instead of Cillian Sheridan. The Well haven't played a game in three weeks with no fixture last weekend and the game against Dundee United being postponed the week before, we have to go back to Sunday January 20th when they played St. Johnstone at Fir Park a game which they won 3-2 and manager Stuart McCall decides to make only one change and that's Stuart Carswell stepping in while Robert McHugh is resigned to the bench.
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| Players shaking hands before the game |
You would have thought that this would spur Killie on and take control of the game but no, Motherwell came out with all guns blazing and totally dominated the rest of the first half and should have been leading at the half time interval. A header from Shaun Hutchinson was cleared off the line by Killie striker William Gros Gros popped up again five minutes later to deny the same Motherwell player and they say thing's come in threes for a Tom Hately corner was met by Simon Ramsden's head and palmed onto the bar by Kyle Letheren the Killie keeper and cleared from danger by, yes you've guessed it, William Gros.
Watching Gros in the early stages of the game I thought to myself that this player would be condemned to the Soccer AM archives under the category of "Some tekkers are bad" as some of his touches and fancy flicks left a lot to be desired but as the game progressed he was most certainly starting to impress.
Kilmarnock didn't improve much after the break as it was Motherwell still looking the most likely but still not able to stick the ball in the back of the Killie net and in the 71st minute of the game their failure in the final third took on more significance as that man William Gros rose high to meet a James Dayton cross and headed Killie into a 2-0 lead.
Desperation turned into frustration for the Well in the last five minutes of the game as they lost two players to a straight red card, substitute Fraser Kerr in the 85th minute and midfielder Keith Lasley in the 89th for reckless challenges on the same player Killies winger James Dayton and so ended a most miserable afternoon for Motherwell at Rugby Road.
The ground is a 18,128 all seated Stadium that opened in 1899 but as obviously been redeveloped since. The Frank Beattie stand where I watched the game from is somewhat smaller and older than the other three stands and you have to sit near the front as not to have your view obscured by supporting beams.
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| Chadwick Stand |
Opposite from where I was sitting is the East stand also two tiered and a fare size but it doesn't run the full length of the pitch.
There is a bar under the Frank Beattie stand and also food outlets where you can try the infamous Killie pie if you so wish. I, myself prefer the traditional English pies they're a lot bigger and the pastry isn't as hard, I suppose it's a case of what you're used to.
The club shop is a porto cabin at the back of the car park directly opposite the turnstiles of the Frank Beattie stand. I must have looked suspicious as I entered the shop for I was watched around the place by the female staff behind the counter, they seemed to be nervous of me which in turn was a pretty unnerving experience for myself and not one I would like to repeat.
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