What's not to enjoy about Kilmarnock’s recent unbeaten run that’s taken to a League Cup semi-final and off the bottom of the Premiership?
Saturday's win over the Ross County was another impressive performance from the Rugby Park side – a dogged display that resisted a second half challenge from the Staggies.
And once again the hero of the game was Danny Armstrong, capping a fine performance with a well-taken goal to seal the points.
Killie boss Derek McInnes said: “There’s a lot of satisfaction from this win because we felt really angry at ourselves – and frustrated with some of the decisions – up at County last time.
“We lost to a late winner. It was a sore one to take, a long journey back and a tough few days after that.
“County should’ve been down to nine men that day. We were angry about that and we mentioned it.
“It’s only by winning today that we started to feel a bit better about that result.”
There wasn’t a lot of action in the opening period, but Armstrong’s goal lit the touch paper for a decent match.
Killie had a couple of chances to double their lead through Innes Cameron and Kerr McInroy, and Ash Taylor almost added to his season’s goal tally when his header was cleared off the line.
As the first half drew to a conclusion, Zach Hemming was called into action to deny Jordy Hiwula, and that was a taste of things to come after the half-time break.
The visitors were a livelier outfit after the restart, with Owura Edwards providing the main threat.
On 46 minutes he evaded a couple of tackles to make space for a shot, but he shot wide of Hemmings’s goal.
Four minutes later the Killie goalkeeper pulled off a good stop to deny Jordan White, then Alex Iacovitti passed up a scoring opportunity in front of goal.
Killie found themselves pinned back in their own half as the Highland side pressed for the equaliser, and on 72 minutes Hemmings was called into action again to flick over a Yan Dhanda shot from distance.
The introduction of Rory McKenzie and Liam Polworth for McInroy and Ryan Alebiosu gave Killie some fresh impetus to help edge them back into the game, and Jordan Jones almost netted on 80 minutes to give his side a bit more of a breathing space.
He cut in from his left wing beat to angle in a shot that almost crept in at the far post.
But in the end, Danny’s delightful 20th minute goal was enough to separate the sides and send the home fans home in a cheerful frame of mind.
Boss McInnes added: “I thought the subs helped us at good times.
“I felt there wasn’t just a physical fatigue with some of our boys, there was a mental fatigue as well.
“That run of three games in a week can sometimes affect you. While Ross County had their feet up on Tuesday, we were knocking our pan in trying to win a cup tie against Dundee United.
“That was maybe a factor. We’ve come through a big week really well. We’ve got a set target we want to get to before the World Cup. We want to be top of a mini-league we’ve spoken privately about.
“If we can do that – and have a semi to look forward to when coming back – it will be a decent return. That’s five games unbeaten now.”
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