Killie 1-0 Caley … It’s a shootout then

By: Ian Rose | May 16th, 2009

I hate to quote myself, and I hate even more to be right, but this is what I had to say about the final match of our season a few weeks back: “If we’ve maintained our four-point lead to this point, then we can call it a survival party, but does anyone believe, the way this season has been, that it won’t come down to the final 90 minutes?”

I would have liked nothing more than for next week’s home match with Falkirk to be meaningless. Now it will be anything but that. If anyone wins that match, then its winner take all, with the loser going down. A draw is enough to keep us up and send Falkirk to the first division.

As for today’s match, we got a bit of what we deserved, if I’m totally honest. In the first half, we had good chances and played overall relatively well. But at the half, the Caley Thistle lost all momentum, and by 60 minutes, it seemed to all watching and listening that both sides were willing to take the point and be happy with it. It was, for the most part, a dreadful second half. Sometimes, when you sit back and relax, you’re made to pay for it in the end, and this was one of those days, as Killie stole a late one from the man who has to be SPL Player of the Month for May, Kevin Kyle. He has absolutely saved Kilmarnock.

So, it will come down to this. Next Saturday is our 190th consecutive match in the top flight, the end of our fifth season since promotion, and if we lose, it will be our last for at least a year. I’ll go on about this all week, but it hurts to remember that we were 20 minutes away from safety on Wednesday, up 2-1 over a Motherwell team with nothing to play for. The concession of that second goal was an absolute killer, and might well have doomed us.

Once the dark clouds retreat from my view of things, I must admit that the pure football fan in me will relish the idea of a playoff. What worries me is that all we need is a draw. I can only hope that we won’t settle for that. An early goalscorer instantly becomes a club legend. That will be one hell of a match. Mon the Caley.