Rugby Park, August 29th 2009
Kilmarnock 1 St Mirren 2
By Chris
I'll be honest now. I have a severe disliking of Kilmarnock. I can't quite put my finger on when this began or indeed any specific reason why - perhaps it's the fact I cannot come up with one single reason to justify their existence. Actually I'll take that back, there's one - the pies.
Kieran and I made the short journey down the M77 to see them take on St Mirren, Sean again conspicuous in his absence (his 4th in a row, I think we can safely assume we have lost one of our founder members). We met Jamie outside the St Mirren end, I was more than happy to support the away side today. We treated ourselves to 2 of Killie's special pies (well Jamie and I did, Kieran bottled it and had just the 1) and took our place amongst another impressive turnout of Paisley's finest.
Their boisterous atmosphere brought life to the drearily subdued half empty stadium but the songs were quickly replaced by grumbles, cries and indeed howls of desperation as the 1st half wore on. St Mirren were awful, absolutely awful. Insipid in their passing, completely lacking organisation and berefit of any attacking quality they could count themselves lucky they were only 1 down at half time. That's not to say Killie offered much themselves. Without their big influential striker Kevin Kyle they instead turned to Connor Salmon as their target man and he did a reasonable job with little support, his goal the difference between the sides.
St Mirren rallied in the 2nd half and 2 goals from McGinn turned the game in their favour and gave them a somewhat unexpected three points. The sparse, near-mute Killie crowd quickly began to disperse as the game drifted away from them and as harsh as it sounds I hope it's the last time we see them compete at the top table.
Journey - 6/10
Pie - 8/10
Bovril - 6/10
Ground - 4/10
Game - 4/10
A word from Paisley
St.Mirren always put you through the mill, it's inevitable. But I think I can honestly say I've never seen them play as badly as they did today. They just seemed utterly clueless and disorganised, and yet still managed to win the game. I'll never know how, but I suppose if you want to get anywhere in football you've got to dig in and win dirty sometimes.
Pie and Bovril review
Well here it is, the much hyped Killie pie review. Paisley and I went for both the Killie Pie and the Homecoming Pie, Kieran settled for just the traditional Killie one.
Homecoming Pie - So basicallythis is your Killie pie with a touch of haggis. And it works. Well cooked pastry with a delicious steak filling and the hint of haggis gives it an added spice. Hottest pie so far too as my burnt tounge will prove. 8/10
Killie Pie - Disappointingly cool but substantial steak filling and light pastry raises it above any other pie thus far. 8/10
Bovril - Meh. Don't think they picked a great cow for this one. 6/10