Christmas Carroll’s goal has Well singing
Tentatively relevant to this time of year, whilst there wasn’t a vacancy at the inn in Bethlehem, there certainly is vacuity at Rugby Park.
The abrupt departure of the Italian Angelo Alessio in a sea of rumour and conjecture has led the Kilmarnock board to search for their next incumbent.
Alessio’s number two, Alex Dyer, has enjoyed a long tenure at the club and is the fans’ favourite for the job, but when pressed after Killie’s narrow defeat to Motherwell, the Englishman was more than coy on his ambitions to take over the hot seat.
When asked directly if being a number one or number two in management was his preference, Dyer replied: “I enjoy being at a football club.”
Hardly the retort of a man desperate for elevation, but to be fair, Dyer is a laid-back and measured individual and revealed his temporary role was hardly revolutionary.
“It’s nothing too different that I would do anyway. I still went out and did the warm up. I still talk to the lads the same way. I did not try and do anything different apart from doing the team talk and summarising at half-time and the end of the game.”
Dyer’s consistency of personality carried over to his team selection, electing to only swap Liam Miller with Mohamed El Makrini from the side that lost in the last minute to Ross County last weekend.
Third-placed Motherwell quickly got into their stride. Allan Campbell was denied what seemed to be a certain goal as Connor Johnson appeared from nowhere to extend a toe to deflect the midfielder’s effort over the bar.
The Well had a goal ruled out for offside five minutes after the restart as Hylton’s shot from an angle looked to have evaded the clutches of Laurentiu Branescu, but Chris Long could not deny his striker’s instincts and poked the ball across the line from an offside position.
The visitors eventually took theleadthankstotheleft foot of Jake Carroll, who took advantage of Niko Hamalainen bundling over Mark O’Hara just outside the penalty area. The full-back curled the subsequent free kick into the top corner.
Eamon Brophy should have equalised with 77 minutes on the clock when Stephen O’Donnell picked out the striker who blasted his effort over the bar from 10 yards out.
The tandem of Brophy and O’Donnell was causing problems for the Steelmen with only the outstretched palm of Mark Gillespie foiling the former Hamilton striker as Killie pushed for a way back into the match.
Liam Polworth should have sealed the points for Motherwell in the 89th minute. A clever ball from Scott sent the substitute clean in on goal but a trailing leg from Branescu was enough to deflect the shot foracorner.
Killie were not done and almost snatched an equaliser from a long ball, with O’Donnell testing Gillespie at his near post.
Motherwell manager Stevie Robinson warned his charges against complacency with two fixtures over the Christmas period.
“We have got two tough games, Robinson stated. “Ross County next, where I have the utmost respect for the coaching staff and the ownership up there as well. We have to be at our best. We can’t be at 70% and win football matches.
“We need to be right at our very best and we need to keep pushing people.”