Scottish football may be negative, as a prominent Premiership manager has been at pains to point out this week, but rarely is it boring. Everything that is at once glorious and quite frankly, primitive, about our national sport was on display in a barnstorming 90 minutes at Rugby Park yesterday.
There were goals galore, two sets of fully-committed players, penalty claims, a sending off and heck, even some football broke out at times to ensure that the crowd of a little over 4000 went away entertained, if not entirely satisfied on either side with the point they had gained.
Anything that wasn’t nailed down seems to have been shipped out and replaced at Rugby Park over the summer, but one thing remains constant, and that is seeing Kris Boyd’s name on the scoresheet. He got the opener here early on with a typically predatory finish after the retreating Liam Lindsay was unfortunate to ricochet the ball into his path, and it was poignant to see Boyd point towards the sky as he dedicated his goal to the younger brother he lost so tragically recently, and whose funeral he attended only two days before the game.
“We’re delighted for Kris, he’s had a tough week or ten days, and obviously he had the funeral of his younger brother on Thursday,” said his manager Lee Clark.
“I had to keep an eye on him, but he’s responded in the right way and young Scott will be looking down on Kris with a lot of pride. We’re delighted that it was written for Kris today.”
The only thing more fitting would have been a Kilmarnock victory, but Thistle fully deserved their point after clawing their way back into the game not once, but twice.
It was no surprise that David Amoo was the creator of their first equaliser just after the half hour, with the winger giving Luke Hendrie an absolute roasting during the first-half. He burst past the hapless full-back on the right and crossed to the near post area, where Stevie Lawless nipped across Scott Boyd to take it away from him with his first touch. In the same movement, his second touch caught the ball on the volley, drifting delightfully across Jamie MacDonald and into the net.
The visitors were screaming for a penalty as we moved into the second half when Chris Erskine slalomed through four challenges before slipping in Lawless, but Kilmarnock substitute Nathan Tyson made a vital intervention on his debut – which looked suspiciously illegal - as he slid in front of the midfielder. Referee Andrew Dallas, who drew the ire of both sets of supporters at various points in the game, waved away the Thistle appeals and awarded a goal kick.
“We thought it was penalty but I haven't seen it back,” said Thistle boss Alan Archibald, showing diplomacy that would put Kofi Annan to shame. “The player seems to think so and I think everybody else did.”
Moments later Souleymane Coulibaly, who had spent an hour locked in a personal duel with the excellent Thistle keeper Ryan Scully, finally got his goal with a clever header from a deep Dean Hawkshaw cross, but Lindsay made up for some slack marking on that occasion to pop up with the equaliser seven minutes from time.
Erskine floated a deep free-kick towards the back post where Kris Doolan’s effort was blocked on the line, and there was Lindsay to prod into the roof of the net.
The drama wasn’t finished though, with Thistle captain Abdul Osman being sent off two minutes from time after picking up two quick bookings, the first for a tug on Rory MacKenzie and the second three minutes later for hacking through the back of the same player.
Remarkably, the ten men could have snatched the three points deep into injury time as substitute Ade Azeez outmuscled Jonathan Burn to get to a bouncing through ball, but MacDonald managed to reach up and get a hand to his attempted lob to make the sure the game ended in a thoroughly entertaining deadlock.
“I think it was a good point when you are twice behind,” Archibald added.
“We showed great character both times to get back into the game but at the same time we missed a one on one with 30 seconds to go but there is always that wee bit of 'what if?'.
“The goals [we lost] take away from some great play.”
KILMARNOCK: MacDonald; Hendrie, S Boyd, Burn, S Smith (M Smith, 25’) (Jones, 90’); Dicker, Frizzell (Tyson, 53’); Coulibaly, Hawkshaw, MacKenzie; K Boyd.
Scorers: K Boyd (17’), Coulibaly (65’)
Booked: Hendrie (26’), Hawkshaw (68’)
PARTICK THISTLE: Scully; Gordon, Lindsay, Devine, Booth; Edwards, Osman; Amoo (Azeez, 75’), Lawless, Erskine (Elliot, 89’); Doolan (Welsh, 90’).
Scorers: Lawless (33’), Lindsay (83’)
Booked: Gordon (54’), Osman (85’)
Sent off: Osman (88’)
Referee: Andrew Dallas
Attendance: 4169
Man of the match: Souleymane Coulibaly (Kilmarnock)
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