Shiels celebrates

By Graham Barnstaple
January 29 2012

In a hard fought Ayrshire derby Kilmarnock finally made it through with a Dean Shiels extra time winner.

The first half was a dour affair with few chances for either side, but that all changed in the second half withAyrkeeper Cuthbert pulling off a string of saves to keep his side in it.

He pulled off a fine double save fromDaytonand Harkins before tipping a long range effort from Shiels over the bar. From the corner he then had to dive to his right to keep out a Pascali header.

TheAyrstopper was then called into action to save a Hay long range effort before Cammy Ball was forced into his only real save to deny Geggan’s shot from 18 yards.

The game went into extra time and with less than ten minutes to go Cuthbert was finally beaten. He pulled off a double save before the ball fell kindly for Shiels to slot the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

The major talking point after the game was the verbal spat between the two managers with Killie’s Kenny Shiels expressing his disappointment atAyr’s anti-football approach to the game, something he would never do. With Brian Reid ofAyrsaying Shiels should look after his own team, rather than commenting on others.

Shiels has a habit of doing this kind of thing, and Reid may well have a point given that Killie have only won six League games this season, which would suggest his chosen style isn’t working.

The Killie boss has this belief his style of passing, possession football is the only way to play the game, but it could be argued it isn’t working for his own side given their league record to date this season. He may have to looking at times to come up with plan B to allow his side to win more games and turning some of the draws into wins.