KILMARNOCK have already let one cup slip through their fingers this season but at least Cammy Bell knows his fingerprints are not to be found on the broken pieces of their Scottish Communities League Cup ambitions.
The goalkeeper missed a defeat by Stenhousemuir in that competition due to a hand injury, with the holders bowing out after just one game.
Yet just because he was unable to play in that tie does not mean that Bell is unaffected by the disappointment. He was struck by a sense of helplessness as he sat in the stand and the 26-year-old is eager to make amends by helping to carry Kilmarnock through another testing tie, this time against Queen of the South in the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup.
"All the boys were really disappointed. I missed the game through my injury and I was disappointed sitting in the stand," said Bell. "We won that cup last season and I didn't get a chance to play in it again so it was disappointing. Hopefully we can go far in this competition."
Bell will have been wary about sounding too bullish ahead of today's tie, partly out of respect for his former side – he was a member of the Queens side that played in the UEFA Cup in 2008 – and also out of concern that Kilmarnock are not subjected to further humiliation. Queens have only lost once this season, against Dundee United in the League Cup, and the Rugby Park squad have done their homework on the Irn-Bru Second Division leaders.
"We've looked at them on the DVD and we're taking the match very seriously. We have already been put out by a team from the SFL this season in the League Cup so we know there are very good teams in those leagues," said Bell.
"With Queens being unbeaten in the league this season, they will be very confident coming into the game and knowing they've not got much to lose against us. We need to approach the game professionally and play to the best of our ability to win the game."
There were similar sentiments coming from United and Hibernian ahead of meetings with Queens this season, and only United were able to scramble a 1-0 win away from their trip to Palmerston. Such strong form has helped house an impertinence in this Queens team and Allan Johnston will hope his players are able to draw from that once more against Kilmarnock.
"We beat Hibs and ran Dundee United close by putting on high energy performances with lots of good passing," said the Queens manager, who spent five years as a player at Rugby Park. "If we do what we did in those two games [today] then we will do okay."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article