LEAGUE CUP REFLECTIONS

As you know we are always delighted to get articles from the fans and I was contacted recently by John McRobert. John is a great Killie fan who has travelled around the globe meaning he has had to support Killie from afar. He has written a couple of books as well so here’s a chapter from the book of what John had to say……..we hope you will enjoy his League Cup memories in this issue.

Hi Sandy,

As I mentioned earlier on Twitter, here are a few chapters from my book, "Football, Killie and Me".

It would be a bit much to send you the whole book, and it was difficult picking suitable chapters to send you, so I've attached four. The cup wins are probably a bit obvious, and been done to death over the years, but you can't beat a bit of nostalgia! I've included the chapter which covered the time I was working in the Middle East (1988-1991), which made following Killie a bit tricky in those pre-internet days. It's basically the experience of an exiled Killie fan, going through the emotions of relegation, promotion and the signing of Tommy Burns from afar. I've also added the final chapter, which I realise might be putting things a bit back-to-front, but who could forget that night against Arbroath?

The book can be purchased from Amazon: Amazon.co.uk: John McRobert: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle along with another book I've written about my long-distance walking adventures. As I mentioned, I'll be happy to give you a printed copy of my book. Those who have read it said they really enjoyed it, although to be fair, they all know me, so they might be a bit biased, ha ha!

To give you a bit of my background, I was brought up in Kilmarnock, and have been a Killie fan since my dad took me to Rugby Park for the first time in 1964. But in 1975 I joined the RAF, and the first part of the book relates the games and stadiums I visited over the years in England and Europe, as well as going to see Killie whenever I could. After three years in the Middle East, I returned to Scotland and my work took me to Stanraer, where I stayed for nearly 30 years. Now retired, I moved back to Kilmarnock last year, and one of the first things I did was buy a season ticket!

Cheers, John

The League Cup Final 2001

As I mentioned previously, Killie had achieved a couple of decent runs in League Cups at the start of the century, so I want to go back a few years, and cover these all together in this chapter.

League Cup matches back then, particularly in the early rounds, were generally played midweek with evening kick-offs, so I couldn’t get to as many of them as I would have liked. I couldn’t get away early from work often enough, so it was a caseof picking and choosing for the most part. Consequently, many of the rounds will only get a passing mention, as I wasn’t there towitness them for one reason or another.

***

2001

Killie negotiated the early rounds of the 2000-01 League Cup with three narrow wins: 2-1 away to Clyde (after extra-time), 1-0away to St Johnstone, and a 2-1 victory over Hibernian in the quarter-finals. A semi-final at Hampden beckoned, and Killie were drawn against St Mirren, giving them a great chance of reaching the final of the League Cup for the first time since that controversial loss to Hearts in the 1962-63 season.

Luckily, I managed to get some time off work to get to the game, which was played on a soaking wet Tuesday night in February. My sister Anne came along with me, and together we braved the elements as we made our way to Hampden.

Unfortunately, the attendance was only 9,213, and it wasquestioned as to whether Hampden was the best venue for this tie, with such a low turn-out. The dreadful weather conditions certainly didn’t help.

Anne and I took our seats in the North Stand, which at least gave us a bit of shelter from the incessant rain.

A few minutes before half-time, Killie took the lead. In a complete reversal of roles, Paul Wright took possession wide right, and crossed for Andy McLaren to head home. I would normally have expected McLaren to cross for Wright, but no matter, Killie were 1-0 up!

Although Killie were playing reasonably well, I was always aware that St Mirren were far from out of it. If only Killie could get a second goal, I could relax just a little. Halfway through the second half, they got it – and what a goal it was!

Amazingly, it came from a St Mirren corner. The ball was floated into the penalty area, and headed clear to Craig Dargo. He just ran up the left with it…. and ran…. and ran…. and ran! He showed tremendous pace, and none of the St Mirren players could get a challenge in. Eventually, he reached the corner of the St Mirren penalty area, and placed a superb shot right into the farcorner of the net, giving the ‘keeper no chance. What. A. Goal. Itmust rank as one of the best Killie goals I’ve ever seen live, andit had surely all but booked a place in the final.

Peter Canero put the icing on the cake with a third goal after 78 minutes, to complete a 3-0 win. As Anne and I walked away from Hampden, the rain suddenly didn’t seem to bother us as much, it’s amazing the difference a good win makes! Four years after their Scottish Cup win, Killie were in another final!

And in that final they would meet Celtic, who had high hopesof winning a domestic treble, and would understandably be hot favourites. Not only that, they had beaten Killie 6-0 a couple of months earlier. Undaunted, Anne and I got tickets for the game, but I went there more in hope than expectation, if I’m honest. Outside Hampden, we bumped into our cousin Marion, whom we hadn’t seen for years, and it was good to see her, albeit briefly.

On the 18th of March 2001, the teams lined up as follows in front of a 48,830 crowd at Hampden:

Kilmarnock: Marshall, MacPherson (captain), Hay, McGowne, Innes, Dindeleux, Holt, Durrant, Mahood, Cocard, Dargo.

Celtic: Gould, Vega, Mjallby, Valgaeren, Healy, Lambert (captain), Lennon, Moravcik, Petta, Sutton, Larsson.

Although Celtic had most of the possession (as expected), Killie started the game reasonably well, and were more or less holding their own. Ian Durrant was having a great game, so itwas a bitter blow when he had to go off injured after 38 minutes.

We didn’t know it at the time, but it was to be his last game for Killie, apart from a cameo substitute appearance at the end of the following season. Although he had spent most of his career at Rangers, he had been a great signing for Killie.

Mark Reilly replaced Durrant, and half-time arrived with the score at 0-0. Could we dare hope for a shock Killie win? Sadly, the answer was no. Just two minutes into the second half, Henrik Larsson knocked the ball in from a corner.

A few minutes later, Killie were forced into another change, with Andy McLaren replacing the injured Christophe Cocard.

After an hour, Chris Sutton took Gary Holt out with a shocking tackle. Well, I say “tackle”, there was absolutely no attempt to play the ball, and Holt was sent flying. Sutton could have no complaints about the red card, he was lucky he wasn’t arrested!

With Celtic down to ten men, perhaps Killie could bringthemselves back into the game? Sadly, once again the answer was no, and once again it was Larsson who did the damage. His shot cruelly deflected off Chris Innes, and looped over Marshall into the net. There was still 20 minutes to go, but I couldn’t see Killie coming back from that.

After 80 minutes, Larsson rubbed salt into the wound, and completed his hattrick with the best goal of the game. He broke clear, sold Marshall a dummy, and slotted it into the net. It pains to me to say so, but it was a fantastic goal.

Celtic saw out the remainder of the game for a very comfortable 3-0 win. A lot of the Killie fans had gone longbefore the final whistle, but I would never leave a game early unless I really had to, and Anne and I stayed to watch the presentation of the trophy.

Fair play to Celtic, they deserved their win. And Larsson was unplayable in the second half. Would things have been different had Durrant stayed on the pitch? It’san unanswerable question, but I suspect Celtic would still have had a bit too much on the day for Killie to handle.

***

The League Cup 2007

I was lucky enough to get to Killie’s first League Cup game in the 2nd Round of the 2006-07 competition on the 22nd ofAugust. They were drawn away to 1st Division Queen of the South, and it made a change to travel along the A75 instead ofthe A77, plus I had never seen them play at Palmerston, so all in all it was a bit of a novelty.

The game didn’t go well for Killie. They struggled to get a grip all through the first half, and it was no great surprise when Queens took the lead early in the second half. The home side hadchances to increase their lead, before Grant Murray equalised with about 15 minutes to go. Queens were still looking dangerous though, and the game could have gone either way before the 90 minutes were up.

However, the game went into extra-time, so it was going tobe a late drive home along the A75 for me. Penalties was startingto look like a distinct possibility, until Steven Naismith scored the winning goal with seven minutes left. Phew, that was astruggle, but at least Killie had scraped into the next round and avoided a shock result.

I never got to the next two rounds, which were both home matches. Again, it took a 2-1 extra-time win to beat Livingston, followed by a narrow 3-2 win over Motherwell. Killie were in the semi-finals, where they would meet old cup foes Falkirk.

And in a similar vein to Killie’s Scottish Cup win in 1997 over the Bairns, Falkirk had knocked Celtic out in the previous round. An omen, perhaps? Not only that, Rangers had also gone out of the competition, so with the Old Firm out of the picture it levelled the playing field a bit – any one of the four sides left could win it: Kilmarnock, Falkirk, Hibernian or St Johnstone, and I would fancy Killie to beat any of those sides on their day.

The semi-final was played on the 30th January 2007 at Fir Park, Motherwell. It was a wise decision to avoid Hampden, as the 10,722 crowd generated a much better atmosphere there than would have been the case at the national stadium.

Killie had already beaten Falkirk three times in the leaguethat season, including a 2-0 win just a few days previously, so were clear favourites to make the final.

The kick-off was delayed for 15 minutes, due to traffic congestion, which I had luckily avoided. I used to work in Motherwell at one time, so had got there a bit earlier, parked my car outside my old workplace, and walked to the ground from there.

Falkirk looked the better team in the early stages, and it took Killie a while to settle into the game. In 30 minutes, they took the lead with a fine goal. A long ball was punted forward, which Colin Nish nodded on perfectly into the path of Steven Naismith, who shot under goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel (son of Manchester United’s Peter Schmeichel).

Killie led 1-0 at half-time, but Falkirk were far from out of it, and playing some good stuff themselves at times.

In the second half, Carl Finnigan had a great chance to equalise, but Alan Combe in goals managed to block. Then Naismith had a shot superbly saved by Schmeichel, as play swung from end to end.

Just when I was starting to think we might have another nail- biting end to the game, Naismith struck again. Once more, it wasa long ball which sent him clear, he took a touch with his head, and volleyed it into the net. Schmeichel did well to get a touch, but there was no way he was stopping that, another superb goal.

From there, Killie just had to see out the remaining 20 minutes or so, but Naismith wasn’t finished yet. After 78 minutes, he wriggled his way into the penalty area and wasbrought down – penalty. He was unplayable that night, and Falkirk just couldn’t handle him.

Naturally, it was Naismith himself who stepped up to take thepenalty and blasted it into the net for his hat-trick. What a game for the young lad, who was only 20 at the time.

Killie held on for a comfortable 3-0 victory, and made my long journey home a very pleasant one indeed. Killie were in another final!

By a curious coincidence, the final was held on the 18th March, exactly six years to the day since Killie’s 3-0 defeat to Celtic in their last final appearance. This time they were upagainst Hibernian, who had beaten St Johnstone 3-1 after extra- time in their semi-final. I was quietly confident that this could beKillie’s year. The team were playing well under Jim Jefferies,and would surely be a match for Hibs at the very least. In the league, they had played Hibs three times so far that season, and had won one, drawn one and lost won – honours even.

By this time, Anne was happily settled into married life with Rae down in Derby, but they both travelled up for the match, in the hope of seeing Killie win some silverware.

On the day, it was absolutely freezing, with occasional flurries of snow. The teams lined up as follows:

Kilmarnock: Combe, Ford, Greer, Wright, Hay (captain), Di Giacomo, Johnston, Fowler, Leven, Nish, Naismith.

Hibernian: McNeil, Whittaker, Hogg, Jones (captain), Murphy, Sproule, Beuzelin, Brown, Stevenson, Fletcher, Benjelloun.

Killie started the game quite well, with Naismith lookinglively up front, although it was hard to see the opposite end of the ground through the snow occasionally. But it was Hibs who took the lead after 27 minutes. It was a very straightforward goal, Rob Jones heading in from a corner. Damn!

Hibs were now on top, and I was glad that it was still only 1-0at half-time. I was hopeful that Jim Jefferies would get things sorted out, and have a word or two in the dressing room, but unfortunately the second half continued pretty much from where the first half finished, with Hibs in control.

In 59 minutes it was 2-0, Abdessalam Benjelloun scoring from the edge of the penalty area. It would be an understatement to say I wasn’t enjoying this, but worse was to come just a few minutes later. Every time Hibs went forward they looked like they would score, and Steven Fletcher made it 3-0.

The Killie defence was all over the place, and this was turning into a day to forget. So much for my earlier confidence, I really should know better!

Gordon Greer managed to head a goal for Killie after 77 minutes, but it was surely too little too late. It was actually the first goal Killie had scored in a league cup final, unless you count that controversially disallowed one by Frank Beattie way back in 1962.

Naturally, I was hoping that Killie could gain some momentum from that goal, and perhaps even sneak another to make the last few minutes interesing at least, but it wasn’t to be. Benjelloun scored again, and then just two minutes later, Alan Combe had a horrendous miskick, which gifted Steven Fletcher another. 5-1 to Hibs….ouch! Benjelloun hit the post near the endas well, so it could have been even worse.

Most of the Killie fans had gone by the end of the game, but as usual, Anne, Rae and I stayed on to watch the cup being presented, and trudged disconsolately away to the sounds of the Proclaimers reverberating around Hampden.

Killie had now been in five League Cup Finals, and lost the lot. It was the only major domestic trophy they had never won, and it felt that day that they never would. ***

The League Cup 2012

I only got to one League Cup match in 2011-12 – the Final…What a glory hunter! The early rounds were fairly straightforward affairs, with 5-0 and 2-0 home wins over Queen of the South and East Fife respectively.

In the semi-final, Killie had a mouth-watering clash with Ayr United at Hampden. I would normally have been there like ashot, but at the time my daughter Fiona was in hospital in Edinburgh having major spinal surgery.

She had two operations which lasted a total of over ten hours, and was in hospital for three weeks. Such was the stress of that situation, I barely noticed that Killie were playing. Fortunately, the operations were a success, due in no small part to the skill and dedication of the surgeons and the medical team, and Fiona made a full recovery.

It seems almost incidental under the circumstances, but Killie beat Ayr 1-0 after extra-time, with a goal by Dean Shiels, son of manager Kenny. Killie were in yet another final, their third in recent years, and sixth overall. They were up against Celtic once more, who were overwhelming favourites in their quest for a treble. Killie were looking for a treble of their own though. They had won the League and the Scottish Cup, but had never won theLeague Cup.

Amazingly, for the third time in a row as far as Killie were concerned, the final fell on the 18th of March! I realise that if finals are scheduled for a certain time of year, they’re liable to fall on the same date occasionally, but it was weird that it should happen on all the ones Killie were involved in.

Anne and Rae didn’t come up for the game this time, andeven my dad had decided not to bother watching it on TV. No- one could see beyond a Celtic win, and to be fair, they were overwhelming favourites, but I was going no matter what. I mustconfessthat I wasn’t too confident myself, but you just never know….

The teams lined up as follows:

Kilmarnock: Bell, Fowler (captain), Sissoko, Nelson, Gordon, Kelly, Buijs, Harkins, Hay, Shiels, Heffernan.

Celtic: Forster, Matthews, Rogne, Wilson, Mulgrew, Forrest, Wanyama, Brown (captain), Ledley, Stokes, Hooper.

For each of these cup finals, I was in roughly the same area,by the southwest corner flag, but this time I was considerablyhigher up. I still had a good view though, so wasn’t complaining.I knew it would be important for Killie to keep things tight to begin with. The worst thing that could happen would be an earlyCeltic goal.

So my heart was in my mouth after just fourminutes, when Mahamadou Sissoko passed the ball straight to Gary Hooper, giving the Celtic forward a clean sight of goal.Fortunately Cammy Bell came smartly off his line and made agreat save, but I got the feeling that this could be a long afternoon.

Bell made another great save from a Stokes header. It was a powerful effort down into the bottom corner, and it took fantastic reflexes from Bell to keep it out.

But it wasn’t all Celtic, Killie carved out a few chances themselves. Dean Shiels shot narrowly past the post, and had another effort pushed past the post by Forster. From the resultantcorner, Sissoko’s header was cleared off the line by Stokes. This was turning into a good game, and it was great to see Killie give as good as they got.

However, Celtic were still dominating, and Scott Brown hit a superb shot from about 20 yards, which Bell somehow managed to tip over the bar. Bell had picked the right day to have the game of his life!

Just before half-time, Paul Heffernan briefly got a sight of goal, but Forster blocked his shot. 0-0 at half-time, and Killie very much still in it.

The first chance of the second half fell to Dean Shiels, but he mishit his shot from a decent position. Celtic were soon in the ascendancy again though, and Bell made two more saves. The first was a shot from Stokes, which was straight at him, but the other was from a Wanyama header which he acrobatically tippedover the bar. He was looking unbeatable, and was certainly keeping Killie in the game.

After 73 minutes, Kenny Shiels made his second substitution.(The first was an enforced change in the first half, Lee Johnson replacing the injured Danny Buijs.) I must admit to being slightly taken aback, because midfielder Gary Harkins was replaced by forward Dieter Van Tornhout. It was obviously tactical, but I think most people expected a more defensive change, perhaps with a view to forcing extra-time and penalties.

As the game reached the last ten minutes, Killie were still holding their own, but my nerves were in tatters. One slip, one silly mistake, and the dream was over. I always get a bit pessimistic under these circumstances, I’ve been there so often!

But then, it happened. And I’ll be honest, I’m getting goose bumps even now, just writing about it!

Killie worked the ball forward down the right, then GarryHay switched play to Ben Gordon on the left. He passed it on to Lee Johnson, who was advancing towards the touchline.

From my seat, I had the perfect view of the flight of the ball across the penalty area to the back post, where Dieter Van Tornhout met it with a perfect header. The ball hitting the back of the net is forever imprinted in my memory, what a goal! Kenny Shiels’ substitution had paid off, big time!

The whole west side of the stadium erupted, and bedlamensued. Myself, and everyone around me were jumping aroundin sheer, unadulterated joy. Like the cup final back in 1997, I ended up hugging someone I had never seen before in my life.

Once things had settled down, I had one thought: how long togo? How long for Killie to hang on? The answer was seven minutes plus added time, but I knew that was going to feel more like seven hours.

As expected, Celtic threw everything at Killie, but they still couldn’t get the ball past Bell. He superbly parried a shot from Georgios Samaras, and held the rebound from Kris Commons.

As the clock ticked slowly – ever so slowly – into added time,Celtic kept the pressure on, and Stokes went down in the penalty area under a challenge from Michael Nelson. The Celtic fans screamed for a penalty. I held my breath. It happened at the far end of the pitch, so I couldn’t really tell.

All eyes were on referee Willie Collum, who produced a yellow card – and booked Stokesfor diving! Phew!! Having seen it back on TV, I think it was the correct decision, but many a referee would have given the penalty. The kindest thing I could say about Stokes, is that he went down easily.

There were seconds remaining, my heart was going like the clappers, and I had no fingernails left. Killie launched the ball upfield and made for the corner. At this stage, I wasn’t watching the ball, my eyes were glued to the referee, surely he would blowfor full-time? The ball went out for a goal-kick, and then he did just that.

Glorious! After losing five League Cup Finals, Killie had at last won it, and had now won all major domestic trophies. It was party time in the stands, (well, at the west end of the ground at any rate) and all previous disappointments were forgotten.

It was a fantastic feeling to watch stalwarts James Fowler, Garry Hay and the rest of the team lifting the trophy, certainly on a par at least with watching Ray Montgomerie lift the Scottish Cup at Ibrox back in 1997.

And like 1997, as soon as Marie Osmond’s dulcet tones singing Paper Roses started reverberating around the stadium, I was unable to join in as the sheer emotion got to me. Not that I was caring a single jot, I was loving every single second of this, and will never forget it. It’s moments like that which make all the heartache, all the disappointments, all the bad defeats, and allthe other ups and downs of following a team like Killie worthwhile.

After the celebrations, I drove back to my parents’ house in Kilmarnock. They were naturally delighted with the result, even though they hadn’t watched the game. Dad said that he switched on the TV to see the cup presentation, only to notice that it wasn’t Scott Brown lifting the trophy! A pleasant surprise.

I should mention at this point, that the day was tinged with sadness when we later learned that midfielder Liam Kelly’s father had had a heart attack at the end of the game, and later died in hospital.

I wasn’t aware of what celebrations would be taking place either in town or at Rugby Park, but I had to get back home anyway. Instead, I went to the home match against Motherwell the following weekend to see the cup being paraded. And Killie won 2-0 to make it all the sweeter.