Kilmarnock 2-1 Arbroath: Killie roar back to seal Championship title and sink part-timer’s hearts

WELL, there we have it. There will be no Championship fairytale. The Brothers Grimm can rest easy and Mickey Mouse’s nervous sweat will soon subside. 

It’s Kilmarnock who’ve guaranteed Premiership football next season after they roared back to where they will feel they belong at the first time of asking. With one final heave up the Rugby Park pitch, Blair Alston sunk Arbroath hearts and sent the home fans racing onto the park. In a night of swirling, ever-changing emotion, the prevailing one for Killie was joy abounding. 

Even the most ardent of Killie fan will know no one outside of this part of Ayrshire wanted them to do it, but they won’t care. At times they’ve toiled and at others they’ve looked a shell of their reputation, but in the end their experience and class proved too much. 

For Arbroath, a play off spot awaits. Maybe, just maybe, the fairy tale isn’t over; it’s just on hold for now. 

This one was dripping with the pomp and passion we’d all been hoping for. It began in the hours surrounding the sold out Rugby Park, where the streets carried that rare, intangible atmosphere only football can bring to a town. And it was there over the course of an enthralling, intoxicating evening, where flares rained down from the stands and several nervy players struggled to cope with the occasion. 

James Craigen’s goal had sent Arbroath on their way

It was a night where cool heads always looked like they’d prevail but, for much of it, those seemed to be resting on more maroon shoulders than blue and white. As Derek McInnes’ men struggled to find their groove, Nicky Low, a constant source of calm and energy, set the tone, as did Thomas O’Brien and Ricky Little, the two centre backs fending off an incessant flurry of hopeful Fraser Murray crosses. But every player played his part in that opening half. 

When they needed an outball, there was Jack Hamilton, still only 21 but leading the line like a player in his prime. When one of Murray’s balls finally wriggled beyond either O’Brien or Little, there was Derek Gaston, a decade ago of Albion Rovers, getting down sharply to scoop away Kyle Lafferty’s shot on the turn. 

In that early exchange, with the ball desperately hacked behind for a corner and the Killie crowd baying for blood, Arbroath looked dangerously close to wilting. Within a minute, they’d taken the lead. 

It started with Murray’s awful delivery but then became all about Scott Stewart. Off he scampered, darting the full length of the pitch like the roadrunner, and playing a lovely one-two with Luke Donnelly, before galloping into the Killie box and prodding the ball into James Craigen’s path. Time stood still as his scuffed finish rolled into Zach Hemmings’ bottom corner. Then came the eruption. 

Craigen was consumed by a flood of jeers as he gleefully gloated under the noses of the home supporters, while Dick Campbell, bunnet askew and arms aloft, led the Arbroath celebrations. A more joyful sight you could not imagine. 

How quickly that changed the mood music inside Rugby Park. Suddenly McInnes’ team selection was all wrong, mutters of discontent rising from the stands. Misplaced passes were no longer applauded for their invention but met with disdain. Every puff of John Beaton’s whistle now seemed to be the wrong decision. 

When it sounded to mark half-time, those raucous cheers of pre-kick off had been replaced by a chorus of boos that were spat out in the direction of Killie’s bemused looking players, who’d looked cowed by the occasion. 

They simply had to be better and, to their credit, came out for the second-half with all the bluster you’d expect of a team fresh from a rollicking. There was vigour about their play, blue shirts streaming forward with purpose, the Arbroath backline creaking for the first time. 

Inside those first five frantic minutes, Gaston’s finger seemed to be the only thing stopping the dam from overflowing, the keeper denying Blair Alston and then Ollie Shaw. Later Lafferty would fire wide, then head over. 

Arbroath needed to kill the game but, maybe for the first time this season, appeared to be running on fumes. Donnelly’s race was soon run and so, too, it seemed, was Gaston’s, the goalkeeper relying on O’Brien to take his bykicks as he struggled with injury. That only added to the lack of respite, gifting Killie even more yards up the pitch. 

Still, Killie couldn’t find a way through, so on came Chris Burke, McInnes’ trump card. The wily veteran delivered all right. Within a few minutes, he’d sent panic coursing through Arbroath veins with two inviting crosses and finally, when he won a corner, he placed it perfectly on Ash Taylor’s head. While Gaston stopped his first attempt, Taylor would not be denied. 

Suddenly the cheers were back, relief reverberating around Rugby Park, Gaston engulfed by the blue and white smoke of Killie flares. 

In a night of high drama, it wasn’t finished yet. With Arbroath on the floor, Killie went on one last counter and Alston finished beyond Gaston with aplomb. The celebrations were rampant and will last long into the night. 

Killie had delivered and it was Chris Stokes’ trophy to lift in the end.

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