Killie 24h on

Last updated : 09 January 2005 By Firparkcorner

We have been treated to semi and quarter final ties in the last couple of seasons and enjoyed the challenge presented by teams from other divisions. Our current league form had enticed some to think that another agreeable cup run could be a possibility but those hopes were dashed just before half time at Rugby Park.

Not since January 2002 had we left the competition at the first hurdle. Then it was Dunfermline who kept us from the fourth round draw. The FirParkCorner match report records the following: A quiet, crestfallen, and shattered Eric Black had few words to describe the debacle. "At three down the game was over" he whispered. He and David Kelly exchanged words after that game and the striker packed his bags shortly thereafter.

At that time we were eleventh in the SPL table and that was to be the measure of our performance at the end of the campaign. We were still to face the trauma of administration and John Boyle’s Plan A was beginning to falter.


This season, by contrast, sees us in the top half of the table with a team full of young talent. The team has shown that it is capable of competing at that level and the large support which traveled south expected, at the least, that our guys would put on a show.


By the interval on Saturday we knew that our cup run was stalled. A couple of defensive lapses and an inability to score cost us the match.


Despite the disappointment at missing out on Monday’s fourth round draw we have to acknowledge that there is still much to play for this season. A European place should be a realistic target in the league and we have the consolation of a cup semi final against a Hearts side which is disintegrating by the week.


The game at Easter Road will come while the players still have fresh memories of trudging off the park on Saturday. Well beaten and out of the cup. Let’s hope that it spurs them on to reward us with a trip to Hampden in March.