LESS than two months into 2019 and we already have a candidate for understatement of the year. “It’s been a tough week,” surmised Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke, putting it somewhat mildly. Just a bit.
Clarke’s comments in the aftermath of the sectarian abuse he received at Ibrox on Wednesday night have sparked a nationwide debate on the issue. He was reluctant to revisit the subject following this defeat to Livingston but hoped the reaction over the last few days would prove to be a “watershed moment” in how sectarianism is tackled in football.
“I’m a football manager, I'm not a politician,” he added. “I'm not involved in the law. I want to go do my job and not worry about these distractions, worries or name callings and stuff like that.”
Kilmarnock could do without those distractions, too. This was a seventh match in succession without a victory, their early-season form that saw them top the Ladbrokes Premiership table fast becoming a fading memory. They were without seven key players here due to injury and suspension, and struck the crossbar three times, but the feeling lingered that their season is in grave danger of petering out.
Clarke, though, bullishly praised his players’ efforts and felt that on another day they would have earned at least a draw.
“I think we were in the game from the first minute to the last,” he insisted. “I’ve no complaints as a coach when I look at the effort and application.
“I thought the boys that came in did well. We were maybe just lacking a little bit of quality in the final third, but we hit the crossbar three times.
“Everybody will look at the result and say “Kilmarnock have gone”. We haven’t gone. It’s just one of those weeks that reminds you professional football is a tough game.”
Many thought Livingston “had gone” too given their wretched run of form but they managed to arrest that slump here. A first win since December arrived courtesy of Chris Erskine’s maiden goal for the club and they are now only four points off a place in the top six.
That goal arrived in the final minute of an otherwise tepid first half and with their first shot on target. Alan Lithgow’s long throw-ins are as dangerous as any free-kick or corner and Kilmarnock didn’t deal with it.
Steven Lawless flicked the ball on to Erskine and the forward pirouetted on the spot before finishing with some aplomb past Daniel Bachmann in the visitors’ goal.
“I think we got what we deserved,” said manager Gary Holt. “If you take away the first half against Motherwell - when we were rubbish - we have been excellent this season. We rode our luck with them hitting the bar three times but Chris has come in and got his first goal for the club.”
READ MORE: Win at Manchester United would then put title in Liverpool's hands
Erskine seems a curious fit for Livingston but, pushed into an unaccustomed centre-forward role, it worked well here. He and former Partick Thistle team-mate Lawless linked up well, with Erskine recovering from a sloppy start to make a strong contribution.
“I gave Chris a bit of stick as he gave the first two balls away,” added Holt, with a smile. “We work on our focal point [of] not giving the ball away.
“But after that he clicked that he was up there on his own and needed to look after it. He ran the channels well, held the ball up and out their two centre-halves under all sorts of pressure. His movement is tremendous and he takes defenders into places they don’t want to go.”
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 here