This piece is an extract from yesterday's The Rugby Road Gates newsletter, which is emailed out at 6pm every Wednesday. To receive our full, free Kilmarnock newsletter straight to your email inbox, click here.

It’s awards season in Scottish football, with the curtain set to come down on another season after Sunday’s Premiership play-off final between Ross County and Raith Rovers.

Of course, the real awards are where it’s at for players and managers. I enjoyed my evening at the Scottish Football Writers’ dinner on May 19 as I saw both Derek McInnes and David Watson quite rightly recognised for their efforts this term.

Given the Premiership season ended on Saturday, now seems like the best time to fit in a review for the club before I begin turning my attention to what’s to come in the months ahead.

Player of the season

Danny Armstrong. I’ve opted to get the hardest section out of the way first here as there were so many options for this title. I think he can feel pretty hard done to that he didn’t pick up any awards at the club’s prize giving, nor be recognised by the PFA’s Premiership Team of the Year. He backed up a stellar first season in the top flight with nine goals and 14 assists this time around. If that’s not rising to the challenge of proving he’s not a one-season wonder then I don’t know what is. He called it the best of his career – and it’s that form that could earn him a big-money move this summer despite the best efforts of the club to keep him. He, Watkins, Kennedy, Findlay and Mayo have all been excellent throughout.

Young Player of the season

David Watson. No competition here. As has been well-documented, it’s been a clean sweep of the Young Player of the Year awards for the teenager this season, and he fully deserves the special recognition he’s received. He joins an illustrious list of players to have won both the PFA and SFWA awards respectively. He will be hoping to go on to have as good a career as most of them too! Another season at Rugby Park will do him wonders, and then it will likely be time to cash in and wave him off to pastures new.

Signing of the season

Marley Watkins. He was the club’s Player of the Year and honestly, I don’t feel there’s a right or wrong answer for that accolade or this category as there have been so many standouts. With Armstrong edging the first award for me, I had to pick Marley for this one after his 13 goals and three assists in 43 appearances. He was a predictable signing. A solid Premiership player at this level. His goals helped carry the team to European football and were more often than not the difference when it was needed the most – Livingston at home probably being the prime example. Let’s hope we’ve not seen the last of him in blue & white.

Worst signing

Andy Dallas. There are a few contenders for this unwanted title, and this is by no means a potshot at his ability. It just seemed like a strange move from the outset and was the only piece of recruitment by the club last summer that was quite rightly questioned. Was he the striker the manager held out for the entire transfer window? No chance. But reinforcements were needed and fair play, he played a small part. It just didn’t work out and never showed any promising signs. Kevin van Veen also gets a nod here. For one reason or another, his time in Ayrshire will remain somewhat of a mystery.

READ MORE: Never mind CQN disaster - it's time for Killie to right those wrongs in Europe

Goal of the season

Watson vs Aberdeen (a). Need I say more? The 19-year-old produced one of the best first touches you’re likely to see from a Killie player to take three Aberdeen players out of the game before unleashing a powerful striker high into the corner of Kelle Roos’ goal. What a hit, son. His long-range effort against St Johnstone, or his solo run vs St Mirren deserves mentions, as does Watkins’ curler from the edge of the box at Tynecastle.

Game of the season

2-1 victory over Celtic. Personally, any victory against either half of the Old Firm must be regarded as the best result for any provincial club – and thankfully we had three to pick from this season! The sweetest was 100 percent the win against the eventual champions in December, though. To come from a goal down and totally dominate a team of their stature is more or less unheard of in Scottish football. Special mentions to the 1-0 vs Celtic, 1-0 vs Rangers and 5-2 comeback vs St Mirren, though.

Low point

League Cup quarter-final exit. It’s not something any of us want to dwell on because largely it’s been an incredibly positive campaign. Balance is important though, and unfortunately missing out on another trip to Hampden is about the only black mark against the team. The defeat to Hearts back in September was a particular sore one to take given the nature of when they scored their winner in stoppage time.

Underrated moment

Bossing Aberdeen. Something a little different here. Everyone has provided their views on the euphoria of toppling the Old Firm, of getting a point in the last minute of the game at Celtic Park and putting St Mirren back in their box. What about nine points out of nine against Aberdeen? If you’d told any Killie fan we’d achieve that feat at the start of the season it’s unlikely they’d have believed you. The bogey team status is hopefully a thing of the past now, albeit they did thoroughly deserve their Scottish Cup victory. Some of the stuff we played in the respective 2-0 wins on home soil was a joy to watch. We did to them what they’d done to us for far too many years!

P.S. Derek McInnes is here to stay - pass it on!