SHOOTING

From The Hippo

Our editorials all season have been boring the pants off you all harping on about Alston winning the league at Rugby Park. So how fitting was it that on the first anniversary of that iconic night that we ended our away league hoodoo with a mighty fine and badly needed win in Paisley. The manager got his tactics right (finally) and the players were excellent but for me all the credit goes to the fans. We have had to endure numerous abysmal performances on the road this season so to sell out the away end with 1650 fans making the trip was a magnificent effort…….when I say we are the best in the land I mean it.

It's been slow getting this issue out for various reasons that I won’t bore you with but we will have three issues out in jig time and we will be putting an issue out during the close season…..no sleep for hippos I’m afraid. Having said that there is very few weeks between the paly offs ending and the League Cup starting in mid July so make sure and take your holidays in the window in between Killie fixtures.

My positive thoughts regarding the manager have gradually diminished throughout the season and I’m afraid my faith had totally gone a month ago. We did well against Hearts at home then St Mirren away however our early capitulation against Celtic was down to wrong personnel and baffling tactics. I always tried to hold on to the belief that he would keep us up then kick on next year, that is still my hope however if we continue with the tombola team selections we will do nothing.

The elephant in the room is Premiership survival and the win against St Mirren shifted my glass from half empty to half full. We have a 4 point gap going into the post split fixtures and this week’s trip to Motherwell is massive…..all 5 games are I suppose. However a win at Fir Park and a loss for Ross County would see a 7 point gap that I don’t see them closing. Dundee Utd have hit form at the right time and although they could still collapse you get the impression their momentum should see them through.

The dark horse for relegation is St Johnstone who hit the panic button and sacked Davidson a couple of weeks ago. They are 4 points above us but could easily get dragged right into the mix if the first couple of games go against them. They are at home to the Arabs on Saturday so that is a huge game for both teams, a win for the Saints would go a long way to seeing them safe. Our last fixture of the season is at home to Ross County, here’s hoping they are gone by then but you get the feeling the either 11th place, 12 place or both will go to the final game on the 28th May.

I’d like to say a public huge thanks to our generous donors for the Growing the Killie Family initiative……see article inside if you want to help, KTID

Sandy