Can Kilmarnock repeat play-off comeback and escape against Dundee?

Venue: Rugby Park, Kilmarnock Date: Monday, 24 May Kick-off: 19:45 BST Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland DAB/810MW, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app, highlights on BBC One Scotland at 22:45

Kilmarnock’s 28-year stay in the Scottish top flight could be over within 90 minutes on Monday evening when they face Dundee in the second leg of the Premiership play-off.

But manager Tommy Wright declared “We’re back in the game” after Brandon Haunstrup’s 77th-minute goal ensured a one-goal deficit to chase at Rugby Park.

They have also been here before. Five years ago, after losing the first-leg of the play-off to Falkirk, they were on their way down before they turned it around in emphatic fashion in the second leg.

What has happened to Kilmarnock since that day and can they repeat their heroics again?

How did they end up there?

In 2015-16, Kilmarnock lost 20 of their 38 league games and celebrated victory on just nine occasions. They went through three managers that season. Gary Locke resigned in January and Lee McCulloch was in caretaker charge for almost a month until former Newcastle United midfielder Lee Clark took permanent charge.

They finished eight points clear of bottom side Dundee United but were seven behind 10th-placed Hamilton Academical and had to go through a play-off to preserve their Premiership status.

The Ayrshire side met Falkirk, who had lost just twice in the league since the turn of the year and finished second in the Championship ahead of Hibernian. The Bairns had beaten champions Rangers 3-2 towards the end of the season and then were 5-4 aggregate winners over Hibs in the play-off semi-final.

The momentum was very much with Falkirk ahead of the play-off showdown.

How did they turn it around? Greg Kiltie scored twice against Falkirk and remains with Kilmarnock

The first leg looked destined for a goalless draw before Luke Leahy took a quick free-kick to Craig Sibbald, who teed up Will Vaulks for the winning goal in stoppage time.

But Falkirk manager Peter Houston warned his side to expect a much stiffer challenge from Kilmarnock in the return.

Clark, annoyed that his side had not been awarded a penalty when Tope Obadeyi appeared to be impeded in the box but did not go down, believed his side could turn it around.

Both managers turned out to be right as Clark’s team was reborn in the second leg. At a sun-kissed Rugby Park, two goals inside the first eight minutes from Greg Kiltie and Miles Addison wiped out the deficit.

Kiltie added his second and Killie’s third just after the hour. Amid joyous scenes, Kris Boyd rolled in the fourth to make it 4-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.

Afterwards, Clark warned the club needed to change personnel and mentality to avoid further brushes with relegation from the top flight.

They did and, when Clark left for Bury the following February, Kilmarnock sat sixth before finishing eighth under Lee McCulloch.

Then followed the heady heights of fifth then third under Steve Clarke, but a downward spiral followed the former West Bromwich Albion and Reading boss’s appointment as Scotland head coach.

Under Angelo Alessio then Alex Dyer, they finished eighth as the 2019-20 season was cut short by the pandemic, with the latter departing in January with his side in ninth this term.

Ashcroft aiming to haunt Kilmarnock

That comeback win over Falkirk was bittersweet for centre-half Lee Ashcroft, who found himself being released by Kilmarnock before joining Dunfermline Athletic then Dundee in the Championship.

The 27-year-old is now looking to end his five seasons in the second tier by ensuring there is no repeat.

“I loved my time at the club, but it never worked out,” he said. “I was glad to finish on a high and keep the club in the division.

“I hadn’t played many games that season, but I got in for the play-offs and managed to do well and keep the club up. I look back and it was a great experience to go through.”

There will be no tears if he consigns his former club to relegation while taking Dundee where he believes “they belong”.

“I’m a Dundee player now and I want to get Dundee back in the Premiership, that’s I was brought in here for,” he said. “Hopefully I can be a part of that and do my job on Monday – it would be amazing in my first year at the club.”

Lee Ashcroft helped Kilmarnock stay up in 2016 but now aims to send them down

Ashcroft thinks the pressure will be mainly on the Premiership side.

“I have been in Kilmarnock’s position before with Killie and it feels as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders,” he said. “I know it’s a game of football, but it means so much to so many people.

“It depends on the person as well. I was still youngish and it was tough, but I am feeling different this time. It feels much better. It’s good pressure, we are looking to achieve something good.”

Ashcroft needs no warning about the danger of a one-goal first-leg lead.

“It was the same when I was there,” he said. “We were a goal down and Falkirk came to Rugby Park and we managed to put on a performance. They have experienced players in their team that have been about and know what it takes, so we know it’s going to be a battle and we need to be 100% at it to give ourselves a chance.”

McKenzie out to repeat comeback

Rory McKenzie is one of Ashcroft’s former Kilmarnock team-mates – the others being fellow forward Greg Kiltie and midfielder Gary Dicker – who are survivors of that comeback win over Falkirk.

“Me, Graz and Kiltie, we’ve been in this position before and managed to get out it,” the 27-year-old, who like Kiltie is a product of the Rugby Park youth system, said. “It is a pride thing as well – you don’t want to be a part of a team that got Kilmarnock relegated. I believe we have enough experienced heads in there to get us through it.

“It’s about not letting the occasion get too big for you and just trying to grind it out.”

McKenzie thinks it is different from the Falkirk game because, unlike then, Kilmarnock this time headed into the first leg in good form and believes there is much pressure on the second-tier side to succeed.

“Being in the Premiership, you could say we’ve got more to lose, but Dundee are a big club as well and have a lot to play for and have a lot of big-name players in their squad,” he said.

“If you start thinking about what relegation could mean, it could get a bit overwhelming, but we need to focus on the football side of things. That’s all we can control.”