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The Ayrshire Derby (Act 1)


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53 minutes ago, Andy_K_97 said:

Feels good waking up today after a very satisfying evening. I expected Ayr to try to make themselves difficult to break down but that didn't seem to happen - and had we had a proper goalscorer in the team we could have been three-zip up at HT. As it was a goal was coming given how much space and respect Ayr afforded us, and while the penalty that was awarded was never a penalty (albeit it did look like one from the angle saw it from in the Moffat Stand at the time, yet the replays show otherwise) we should have had the game put to bed long before that.

The only Killie player who gets minus points from me last night is Haunstrup - a player who looked comically out of his depth at Premiership level and continues to do so in the Championship. Everyone else played well from the goalie to the striker. As for Cameron I'm not convinced that he's the answer as he missed a couple of sitters but in any case I'm glad he got his goal and hopefully that can see him off and running.

Finally, after all the big talk and bravado I feel a bit sorry for the Ayr guys on here who came in firing on all cylinders, only for their team to shíte the bed spectacularly and leave them with egg on their face. Ultimately, it looked like a good team playing a poor team - absolute toffee in the end. Looking forward to the next derby now and a chance to end the hoodoo at Somerset.

Very satisfying indeed, we look solid at the back, what a difference a decent keeper makes, although Haunstrup was rotten in the first half I thought he redeemed himself in the second half.

Midfield looks a lot more dynamic and mobile compared with last season, though Polworth and Alston played well.

Big Innes put in a great shift and Burke is a joy to watch.

This Killie team would scud last season's duffers.

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3 hours ago, Dunning1874 said:

I'm aware, but there are some things you just don't joke about.

I see David Hopkin responded to the result with his usual balanced analysis:

A ginger p***k who plays exclusively not to lose, loses anyway, and says it's fine. This is like Scotland under Levein.

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10 hours ago, Thumper said:

My predictions on this thread are sharply at odds with what I've been saying about Ayr under Hopkin since he showed up so I'm somewhat less than gobsmacked. At the end of the day this is three points, and not the worst day of the last 28 years of my life; that's the sort of thing that might bring about tears.

Would that be the day that your 'other' team died in 2012?

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An embarrassing performance, even more so when you look through the Kilmarnock side and realise it’s nothing more than a good championship side. We made them look outstanding. Either that, or we are truly as horrific as feared. 

I imagine other teams might actually attempt to have a shot at goal and cause some problems. Utterly pathetic. 

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39 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

An embarrassing performance, even more so when you look through the Kilmarnock side and realise it’s nothing more than a good championship side. We made them look outstanding. Either that, or we are truly as horrific as feared. 

I imagine other teams might actually attempt to have a shot at goal and cause some problems. Utterly pathetic. 

D'ypou know, considering most of our side have only been together for a few weeks, "a good championship side" isn't a bad start. Familiarisation with each other and TW's plans will see us improve, and one or two more signings will see us well placed to mount a credible challenge. I also think big Innes just needs a couple of goals to settle him - there's a player in there, and as the old cliche goes, "he's in position to make those misses". 

I honestly think Ayr may well be as bad, if not worse, than I had hoped. That striker, besides being a cheating cúnt who would probably have got that penalty had not over-acted, had all the vision of a young Helen Keller. The lad O'Connor looks decent, but he won't keep you mid-table on his own. 

Overall, it seemed appropriate that the opposition were wearing training kit, as we were comfortable from Minute One, with the only questions being when and how many we'd score. I reckon Queens will give us a chance to get a more realistic read on where we are. 

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19 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

D'ypou know, considering most of our side have only been together for a few weeks, "a good championship side" isn't a bad start. Familiarisation with each other and TW's plans will see us improve, and one or two more signings will see us well placed to mount a credible challenge. I also think big Innes just needs a couple of goals to settle him - there's a player in there, and as the old cliche goes, "he's in position to make those misses". 

I honestly think Ayr may well be as bad, if not worse, than I had hoped. That striker, besides being a cheating cúnt who would probably have got that penalty had not over-acted, had all the vision of a young Helen Keller. The lad O'Connor looks decent, but he won't keep you mid-table on his own. 

Overall, it seemed appropriate that the opposition were wearing training kit, as we were comfortable from Minute One, with the only questions being when and how many we'd score. I reckon Queens will give us a chance to get a more realistic read on where we are. 

A good championship side is a fine start, however teams in this league don’t play like we did against good championship sides. 
 

I imagine Queens will, as I don’t imagine any other team will give you such a baffling amount of respect to allow you to do whatever you want all game. 

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I thought beforehand we could never “win “ this in Ayr fans eyes. We were lucky to be in the top flight for 28 years, and now we didn’t win because we played well but that Ayr gave us too much respect. 
Sometimes you just have to say the better team won.

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Understandable sound and fury around a rare derby meeting to kick-off a new season, but I’m a bit surprised the take is more ‘Ayr were pish’ than ‘Kilmarnock are actually pretty good’.

For this level, they have quality all over the pitch and, if they can add a different option up front - or Cameron comes good quickly - I think they’ll win it. Don’t think anybody will have a ‘comfortable’ season in this league, but that doesn’t matter if you win it in the end.

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12 minutes ago, NFL12 said:

I thought beforehand we could never “win “ this in Ayr fans eyes. We were lucky to be in the top flight for 28 years, and now we didn’t win because we played well but that Ayr gave us too much respect. 
Sometimes you just have to say the better team won.

Both things can be true. 
 

You have the better players, you have the better team, you played well but there shouldn’t be a huge gap in terms of players and we clearly showed you far too much respect and allowed you to  do whatever you wanted throughout the game. This made it far easier for you to play well. 

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11 minutes ago, The Ghost of B A R P said:

Understandable sound and fury around a rare derby meeting to kick-off a new season, but I’m a bit surprised the take is more ‘Ayr were pish’ than ‘Kilmarnock are actually pretty good’.

The former rather muddies the latter though. Killie were very one-dimensional in the first half and just assumed that letting Burke hit the same cross in every 30 seconds would eventually pay off. The breakthrough came when they switched it up. How they'll perform against teams who aren't relegation fodder remains to be seen.

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9 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Both things can be true. 
 

You have the better players, you have the better team, you played well but there shouldn’t be a huge gap in terms of players and we clearly showed you far too much respect and allowed you to  do whatever you wanted throughout the game. This made it far easier for you to play well. 

Do you think if Ayr hadn’t set up to defend and sit in the result would have been different?  Or at least a closer result? 
FWIW and I’m no expert but it went the way I thought it would. That we struggle to score but finally get one( lucky with the penalty of course). 
I think if Ayr had set up to attack we would still win. Not by a much more significant margin as we don’t have the pace to exploit the more open spaces but because we have a lot better midfield. And as you said a better team all round. I think Ayr did the right thing as they probably expected us to struggle to score.

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Pass marks for Killie all over the pitch with a couple of standout performances (Burke is far too good for this league), however the critical point for me is how poor Ayr were. They really offered absolutely nothing and we'll not get many easier games than that this season. Hopefully TW can get us a striker with some decent pedigree before the window closes - if we had someone like Lafferty on the park last night it very well could have been a cricket score.

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22 minutes ago, NFL12 said:

Sometimes you just have to say the better team won.

The better team on the night won. On paper, it was probably the most difficult possible opening fixture for us - away against the team who were in the Premiership last season and have assembled a good squad for this league.

We didn't help ourselves the way we played though. It was a frustrating watch.

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5 minutes ago, NFL12 said:

Do you think if Ayr hadn’t set up to defend and sit in the result would have been different?  Or at least a closer result? 
FWIW and I’m no expert but it went the way I thought it would. That we struggle to score but finally get one( lucky with the penalty of course). 
I think if Ayr had set up to attack we would still win. Not by a much more significant margin as we don’t have the pace to exploit the more open spaces but because we have a lot better midfield. And as you said a better team all round. I think Ayr did the right thing as they probably expected us to struggle to score.

It may not have been different, however a league two team could have made more openings against an upper championship side. To barely get into the opponents half all game is unforgivable. Your midfield is better, but it does include Blair Alston! 
 

Sitting in is fine, but offering absolutely nothing other than that isn’t. 

Edited by No_Problemo
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4 minutes ago, PAC said:

Pass marks for Killie all over the pitch with a couple of standout performances (Burke is far too good for this league), however the critical point for me is how poor Ayr were. They really offered absolutely nothing and we'll not get many easier games than that this season. Hopefully TW can get us a striker with some decent pedigree before the window closes - if we had someone like Lafferty on the park last night it very well could have been a cricket score.

We are a team trying to find our equilibrium . Last season we were far too open . If we fielded that side last night Killie would have won 5-0 .  Hopkins its going down the hard to beat route . Last night despite having only 40% of the ball we were only put out the tie by a very suspect penalty . Some Ayr fans are still stuck in McCallsville and they have a point ,our team that went to Tanadice a couple of years ago and won 5-0 would have done Killie last night . However those players are long gone . We have to be pragmatic in the short term . Our build is going to be a job in progress for a while yet . That said we do have options to change or tweek the style of play and that should start on Saturday . I think we'll do ok this season ,I don't think a top four finish is out the question .

Five years down the road who knows where Smith will have taken us , we have zero debt ,construction underway and other projects coming along . We now have the ambition we once lacked in the board room . Our best years lie ahead .  Keep the faith lads .

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