THOSE who thought Kilmarnock might struggle this year really should have known better.
THOSE who thought Kilmarnock might struggle this year really should have known better.
The Rugby Park side embellished their impressive start to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League season by dismantling ten-man Queen of the South in the Scottish Communities League Cup last night, and in Paul Heffernan they may just have unearthed this season’s version of Conor Sammon.
The 29-year-old Dubliner notched a hat-trick of tidy striker’s finishes to move on to eight goals in six appearances and give him pre-eminence in the list of Scotland’s top-flight scorers.
This must have been galling for Gus MacPherson, the Queens manager, and his assistant Andy Millen, who had brought a team to their old stomping ground having beaten Hamilton Academical and Morton in recent weeks, both of whom were leading the first division at the time.
The former Kilmarnock duo had been relieved of their positions at St Mirren having led them to the final of this competition in 2010.
Kilmarnock clearly had no desire to be the Dumfries side’s next victim. Only 90 seconds were on the clock when Heffernan funnelled a pass into space for Gary Harkins to lash in a shot which spun off Queens’ full-back Craig Reid and deposited itself past Lee Robinson’s.
With the Dumfries side toiling to get any possession or territory, Robinson would be required to keep his side in the match. He produced a fine save to defy another Harkins drive, before Liam Kelly blasted the rebound over, then saved with his feet from a low Dean Shiels effort.
Unable to get even, Queens got mad. Scott McLaughlin and Nicky Clark both picked up bookings, then Kevin Smith -- who scored a hat-trick at the weekend -- saw red for a flying elbow in the direction of Slovenian full-back Leon Panivkar.
The away support claimed the Slovenian had dived but Panivkar would soon require treatment after another couple of dubious aerial challenges, and would be kept in at half-time for good measure.
By then, Kilmarnock were two-up. The home side made their numerical advantage count just before half-time, when Shiels’ cross was perfect for Heffernan, who stooped to guide in a smart header.
The visitors would spend much of the second period chasing shadows. Heffernan got his seventh of the season when he got on the end of a deflected Gary Fisher drive, then his eighth followed with the cutest of chips. Substitute Hutchinson completed the scoring with a curling shot.
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