Having picked up their first win of the season before the break, Kilmarnock clash with Rangers - looking to close the gap at the top of the table - in the Scottish Premiership.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00to that first half
00:02Monaco failed to score a first-half goal in
00:05seven of their eight
00:07Premiership games this season now
00:12and Rangers know they need to do a lot more here if they are to move within three points
00:16of Celtic and Aberdeen
00:30there needs to be a whole lot more quality in this game
00:35even allowing for the pitch and the windy conditions
00:46so Kilmarnock will start the second half
00:51looking for back-to-back wins in the Premiership as they aim to get their season going after
00:59early season struggles whilst also competing in Europe
01:06just one point about that first half Cyrildes has only had 11 touches the fewest of anyone
01:13out there and what it was a poor half for him yeah it was i think that even you know when he's
01:18taking the touches decision making wasn't great spoken about you know his movement when the ball
01:23comes into the box all I'll say about Cyrildes is his attitude is to keep going and keep plugging
01:30away it's certainly not a great half for football for him
01:47Jack Butland sends that up towards Dessas but Robbie Dee's always getting there first
01:54here's Tom Lawrence
01:57Soutar
02:02Conor Barron
02:06Corrie and Dada moved in on him and then Barron fouling McDonnelly
02:24and some of the Rangers fans making their feelings known quite clearly
02:39Philip Clements first game in Charles a year ago tomorrow was
02:43a whole lot easier than this one four nil against hips
02:54Finlay
03:03almost from Mattie Kennedy it's nearly magnificent from Mattie Kennedy
03:10now for Bairami
03:24proper
03:29Diamande
03:32Bairami
03:40oh
03:42Diamande
03:45Brad Lyons moved in on him and Danny Armstrong clears here's John Soutar
03:57oh Tess has got lucky off the corner flag there and it will be a corner
04:12so an opportunity for Rangers early in the second half Václav Czerny will take it
04:19John Soutar and Robin Proper have joined Dessas and others in there Czerny in towards that near
04:31post put it away by Marley Watkins and the return from Bairami offered little yeah he'd made his
04:38mind up very early he was taking a shot there first time Bairami just off balance just outside
04:46can't keep it down
04:49and this is you know a lot about spell from Mattie Kennedy which is nearly
04:53nearly magnificent that's how good this game has been this afternoon it's one of the highlights
05:16come on I have a habit of being better in the second half than in the first half
05:22yeah I think Danny McInnes will be happy enough with the first half performance
05:28um and you know that's good confidence for the players knowing that they get stronger in games
05:35Proper up towards Dessas okay better that time now Bairami and Diamande
05:56Soutar
06:05Barron
06:09Bairami for Lawrence
06:17Donnelly Kennedy
06:24this has come kindly to Lawrence
06:35Tom Lawrence looking to latch on to this but Friar the Lion's alert
06:43uh
06:59trickle through to Dessas oh it's a clean strike
07:04Dessas arrives in the game and Tess McCrory yeah well it's a good start to the second half
07:10his hold up plays be much better and this is troubling McCrory early decision again
07:17cut inside he's short of weight force the goalkeeper into a save
07:24Chernie's corner and Dessas and it somehow does not go in
07:30and Rangers are wondering how yeah it's a great delivery deep to the far post Dessas on it
07:42off the bar proper just can't it just goes bounces too high for him
07:47and you can see Dessas is trying to hit it down into the ground
07:51make sure he doesn't hit it over and it's too much on it probably
07:55another chance goes begging for Cyril Dessas yeah but i spoke about it right at the start
08:02of the half he keeps going he keeps you know plugging away as i said i think the ball's come
08:07up to him a couple of times he's made better decisions he's laid it off better he's had
08:10his shot away there leading to the corner kick and then he gets this chance i know that
08:16boy they'll probably say they should score but he's stretching at it
08:22and he's just trying to make sure he gets a good enough contact but he'll keep going
08:27they will keep going
08:32well he had such a good start to the season Cyril Dessas seven in his first nine but
08:38we had a goal in four games now did go five games without scoring a couple of times last season but
08:44he ended up with 22 goals which is a healthy return it's just that it could have been probably
08:50double that well i mean it's a as a striker i suppose it's a nice criticism to have that 22
08:55only 22 goals um but you know as i said look somebody's play particularly in this first half
09:02really untidy but he keeps going he keeps putting himself out there
09:06up lions male
09:15these here's walk-ins
09:22lions
09:30armstrong
09:36so having to chase
09:39tavernier on his case
09:46donnelly clipped towards for sale but away by tavernier
09:56demanding
10:07jeff d now by rami
10:16gave it to danny armstrong fronted by connor baron we've seen him off baron came back to make a
10:27just a little delay there from armstrong soon as he cuts inside baron he's got the option of walk-ins
10:32and myself in the back post takes that extra touch allows baron to get back into him
10:57so
11:13makes a run inside he's looking for danny armstrong to make that run towards the back post
11:18just
11:28fourth in a row would be their best run since 2021 under
11:34giovanni van bronckhorst when they kept six clean sheets in a row in the league
11:40it's broken for churney and for by rami and then jeff d arrives on the scene
11:55it's by rami and he's blazed it over rangers are claiming a deflection but goal kick given
12:03it's a really good first touch from by rami gets out his feet allows him to take that shot on i
12:07wonder if he can just go for that far post just guide it towards the far post off to reverse it
12:37so
12:50i think uh robin proper having uh hurt himself when he blazed over the bar
12:57in that incident a few minutes ago is still toiling here and leon balligan
13:03might be coming on certainly by the way he's moving there
13:07yeah it looks like it i mean i can't really see he doesn't look to be struggling proper
13:15certainly balligan looks like he's getting ready to come on
13:21lawrence clearly a free kick hope to the ground by marley watkins
13:28oh lawrence and kennedy square up before others step in
13:40stephen mclean ordering them both to claim a visit
13:46kennedy just flicks a ball away initially then stands in front of that
13:59so mclean wants everyone else away
14:04is it just going to be no it is going to be a yellow card for both by the look of it
14:16so
14:27i thought you might just have a word but the yellow cards did come out
14:34so
14:39there is a proper
14:51so
15:00leon balligan's arrival has just been put on hold as they check out proper here's by rami
15:08so
15:15approaching the hour mark at rugby park and the wait for a goal goes on yeah i mean
15:25this is that effort that goes around the post one off the bar as well
15:29so
15:33the rangers have had more attempts this half already than they did in the first half
15:47lawrence
15:48so
15:56proper carrying on for now lifted over the top here
16:00for desus first touch allowed mayo in by rami
16:11journey
16:17and proper
16:20catching the cell will have a card waiting
16:29it's a great little shimmy from basel proper probably had to take him out as well because
16:36he was away and might have finished off proper who was about to be replaced by
16:43a couple of minutes ago but we put that on hold i would imagine that's going to happen now
16:56i mean it's what's known as a good film because myself away from him great little dummy
17:03so it's good a set for cell free mali what comes outside them
17:10and john suit up the adoptions running left and right as well
17:21nico raskin is also going to come on as well as leon balligan here
17:24here conor baron will make way for raskin and leon balligan will make his first appearance
17:33since he came on as a sub against celtic back at the start of september raskin started two of the
17:44last three games and will be involved in the last half hour also here and it is a yellow card for
17:51proper as he leaves the field
18:07proper's injury a concern for rangers with a hectic schedule ahead
18:11raskin on for baron
18:20balligan on for proper and on we go in the pursuit of a goal
18:41leon balligan who has won the three big trophies in scotland with rangers across two spells
18:58balligan wins that
18:59so
19:01lawrence unable to return it to by rami
19:21was bobbling through towards tabernia
19:24oh well touch there for danny armstrong that's how to bring a ball under control watkins
19:35balligan in his way armstrong
19:39armstrong's cross met by souter a cell charging in and kennedy slices it
19:46big chance for matthew kennedy
20:03moving proper stopping that attack taking the yellow card
20:07taking the injury to go off potentially also stopping his teammate from being sent off
20:17it's very stop start at the moment yeah it is and it's been that that kind of game
20:25just getting a chance here again to see matt kennedy's chance potentially bounces just a
20:30little bit too high for him snapshot snapshot but he just can't keep it down
20:37so
20:52has been a tremendous signing for kumar playing a lot last season through the pain barrier
20:57and carrying injuries knocks all action sent forward as a real handful
21:03and eric mckinnis will be hoping that he can carry on
21:08maybe he won't though yeah bruce anderson waiting in the wings
21:15another good option off the bench great movement
21:18goal scorer bruce anderson hard worker fits into the way kumar want to play
21:25spot on his uh ambideen debut and eric mckinnis gave him that debut against steven gerrard's
21:31rangers back in 2018 injury time equalizer turn his cross
21:41and the south will now return so we won't see bruce anderson yet
21:51not that he's moving particularly well
21:53so
22:13the amanda
22:14so
22:21cherny he gets to this but robbie d's across to block it away for a corner
22:28that's a great block again this is holding up link the plate
22:33cherny continues his run and dab and finley switch off
22:36so
22:47so vaslav cherny will whip it in
22:51fifth pass suitor tavernier knocks it back
22:59armstrong accepts the throw off tavernier
23:07so
23:17come on actually only one point worse off than they were at this stage
23:22last season and they soon improved the only one one of their first
23:25eight in the premiership last season and that was against rangers
23:36so
23:46laurence
23:56mostly done by by rami and jetty on his way now laurence tess's cherny all waiting
24:04it's going to be a corner though as that lions puts it behind
24:10great run up the left hand side he's got options in the box laurence is making up ground
24:14tess's is in there i think he's just got to flash it across
24:20put it into an area allow them to go and attack it he's looking for cherny for the cutback
24:25so
24:36james tavernier trying to keep the ball still in that blustery corner
24:42so
24:48tamina's corner crorey had to react swiftly
24:5450 tavernier palagin looking to get to this suitor too accepts another corner
25:05yeah tavernier for me is 100 going for a shot there and quite right you know with the wind
25:13i forgot one from mccrory he's alert to it though
25:19hamsa igamam will be on for tess's soon cherny's cross
25:24taken away from mccrory suitor mccrory saves palagin trying to have a go
25:29Kennedy racing away on his own and parkland saves it
25:36as a game going to spark into life now he chances either saves in about 20 seconds here
25:44final 20 minutes diamande for tess's
25:49more of this please it's a space again at the back post of a sale
25:54gets the touch on it mccrory is coming to collect it confusion john stewart is all alone
26:01instantly matted kennedy up the pitch i wonder if the winds put him off potentially going for
26:06the trip to the far post and then the wind is going to blow him off and he's going to be
26:10all alone instantly matted kennedy up the pitch i wonder if the winds put him off
26:16potentially going for the trip to the far post goes for power
26:21it's comfortable for jack butlin straight up the other end again this is nearly in and go
26:28this is more like it here
26:30the moroccan striker will replace serial desus
26:38who's not had the best of days despite a brighter start to the second half
26:46rangers need a lot more out of their number nine than what has been on offer today
26:52well this guy's raw but willing
26:55hamsa igamam
27:03it's going to be a double change from kumara gary mckay stephen and bruce anderson are coming on
27:11and carl vassell is unable to continue danny armstrong will be coming off as well yes he will
27:17so bruce anderson does make it on
27:26he and mattie kennedy by the way could become the only the fourth player this century to
27:32score against rangers for three different clubs can you name the other three buddy
27:38who who we talk about kenny miller's one of them
27:46johnny hayes yeah i couldn't have got that steve lovell wouldn't have got that one i've played
27:51against steve lovell i'd like to give you a quiz now and again i might be able to give you
27:58wobbles teams dundee perhaps levingston i wasn't asking for that
28:10what a flurry of activity at both ends
28:16so
28:27this mayor's throw gets it back from donnelly
28:32tripped by lawrence
28:35he wants to be careful having got away with that challenge when there was a foul before it yeah
28:42but he does have to be careful but surely he should still be able to make tackles and
28:47you know it's not that's not one way you're looking at a yellow card the one previously
28:52where he's pulling kennedy back certainly if that was spotted it would have been in trouble
29:00so kennedy ready to send this in kennedy's delivery is good oh rubby d's just failed
29:08to connect and finley was right behind him too i just expected him to step on and head it
29:14i just wonder if it's too far in front i think he's playing and balagan does enough to put him
29:19off i still think they can go and meet that with the head robbie d's nonetheless should
29:24be getting a contact on it
29:47takes out by rami
29:54it's come through to igaman
29:59jetty the challenge from lewis may
30:09by rami
30:16mayo
30:25uh
30:29gets it back from chernie in towards igaman
30:34chernie just getting to his feet that's a little loose
30:40no foul given against jeffy though as brad lyons ran onto it i think it's up touch the ball jeffy
30:48slight pass from stewart finley lines and jeffy both alert to it
30:55balagan jeffy final 15 minutes plus whatever might be added on at rugby park
31:07it stays at nil nil
31:10so
31:17jeff t lewis may have quickly on his case to good effect
31:2350 though has won it back brilliant from the brazilian until that bit
31:28uh
31:32yeah he's away from me again head up maybe look to put that into the area like a man's in there
31:59it looks like it's getting windier as the afternoon goes on in airsia
32:09raskin lawrence diamante and dava saw that coming ahead of chernie
32:19kennedy
32:22suitor for diamante
32:25uh by rami donnelly kept lawrence in check
32:33and daba in the way otherwise uh it might have got interesting for kennedy i certainly picked up the
32:42the action and the quality in the game ranges with a one-touch passing
32:46it's that final ball final decision it's letting them down certainly more
32:52threat from either side
33:02the rangers are going to make a another couple of changes kieran dowell
33:06and naraisho kasanweho will be with us soon
33:14dujon sterling isn't on the bench for rangers today and
33:18he can be called upon to play in a variety of positions
33:21a minor knock is all we were told nobody was giving away much more nobody tells me anything
33:27these days you're thinking it's more than a minor marking no
33:38donnelly
33:42he's brought that under control and he had a fair bit to do from that point
33:49probably felt the force of his own challenge there but he is back on his feet here's walkins
33:59tom lawrence and vaslav chernie will be the players to make way for this double change
34:09chernie takes his lead as well kieran dowell comes on as a sub for the seventh time this season
34:16and naraisho kasanweho comes on as a sub for the fourth match running
34:25and that's rangers done on the subs front
34:30yeah i'm tavernier moving into the wide right area kasanweho coming in right back
34:38i think we expected lawrence maybe to be one of the subs as the game wore on
34:46mckay steven quick feet
34:55offside against gary mckay steven with two games next sunday hips and hearts find themselves in
35:03the bottom two ahead of the first edinburgh derby of the season from 11 o'clock and that
35:07is followed by motherwell against celtic at fir park they're always big games the
35:14hips and hearts games but wow not often you see two teams struggling at the same time
35:26what kinsley did on valigan
35:34we're heading towards the final 10 minutes our rangers
35:37going to blow their chance to move within three points of celtic and Aberdeen
35:44so
35:47you probably think that would be rather typical the way things have
35:51mapped out during his first year yeah i mean i said you know just before the game kicked off that
35:58come on a tough team to play against add into that you know of course the pitch the conditions
36:05mckay steven
36:06got his cross in duly dealt with by ballaghan with a button fancy did he gave him a big shout
36:16mulligan apologizing kilmarnock have a throw
36:24lewis mayo will take it
36:30hoisted away by rascan
36:36so
36:42up against kennedy
36:53raska
36:56and other tees for mckay steven
37:01um
37:22by rami for cancer we're hope
37:25so we'll be looking for tavernier to uh deliver some crosses from that advanced position
37:44you're looking at a potential missed opportunity for rangers but you have to create the commander
37:48and how they've gone about their game you know they defended their box very well
37:52they've offered that threat going forward that's been a good performance so far still time
37:59of course but it's been a good kilmarnock performance
38:03tavernier has moved into that position now
38:11to no effect whatsoever
38:16and that's you know i know a lot of people have looked and says they
38:19potentially want to see james tavernier playing further forward but that's the type of run
38:23tavernier would make and it's the type of you know area that you expect a good delivery from him
38:29cass and we know he's a good defender
38:34maybe not certainly not the quality that tavernier brings on that overlap
38:49and just have one on three of their last
38:52four visits here and that was after going on a run of six games without a victory
39:04david watson will be coming on for kilmarnock shortly
39:12and he scored twice in the last home game here which was also an eventful
39:16encounter against dundee united
39:20kilmarnock were 3-1 up but it ended 3-3 an outstanding overhead kick in there
39:26he's really certainly he makes those runs he has a goal threat from midfield
39:38watson for donnelly will be the next change balligan
39:46tavernier igerman dowell
39:52rangers getting it together here igerman snuck his cross in but it was cleared by brad lions
40:06a corner though and that means tavernier
40:10so
40:15what rangers would give for a goal here
40:20tavernier floating the corner in will it drop favorably for raskam no
40:30cass and we're home
40:34fairly aimless
40:36so
40:44igerman snapped that across but safely collected by mcflurry
40:50i'm totally unhappy with the delivery from igerman and certainly tried to put himself about
40:57come on but two things of note he's done he's been down the right hand side
41:02and the ball comes in he's meant to be the striker
41:09the final five minutes of the 90.
41:20lions
41:26the monarch drew four games in a row before that late comeback at dundee
41:33a couple of weeks back quickly back to the draws again
41:41here comes that change in donnelly making way david watson who has an eye for a goal he's
41:48actually scored two of the monarch's four home goals this season including a special one against
41:54dundee united the pfa scotland young player of the year last season
41:59will he have a big say in the closing stages here
42:06for all the talk he's been over the last few weeks about the lack of quality
42:11scottish football watson certainly has that quality exciting young player
42:25david watson has still been troubled by a slight shoulder issue let's help this on here
42:36let's kill monarch who have snatched the lead and this could be huge for them
42:44but it also means rangers might be blowing their big chance of moving in on celtic and aberdeen
42:53well well it's been a great performance from kumar all afternoon they've had to be switched on
43:02he's on side cass and we're at the top of your pictures playing him on
43:06this is hooked on by the sub david watson john suit doesn't deal with it marley walkins look
43:12at him and make sure he gets the first contact on shooter which is enough to put him off balance
43:17great striker play down into the ground not the cleanest of finishes
43:23but he won't care come on i'll take the lead little deflection be on jack bottling
43:31oh well marley walkins fourth goal in his last five games first time he's ever scored against rangers
43:39and it's left kumar on the brink of a
43:42another victory over here over rangers here which would be for the second season running
43:49perhaps by the same score yeah and you just look here the contact here is enough to put
43:57shooter off balance which allows walkers to get the contact that comes off his left calf
44:02deflecting it beyond jack bottling this typifies kumar chasing balls that you're not favorite for
44:10making yourself favorite getting something out of it great striker play from marley walkins
44:18the suggestion in fact it's been confirmed is that there will be six minutes added on at rugby par
44:27and rangers need them yeah they do they do you know i spoke about you know lack of cutting edge
44:35and rangers play kumar at defending brilliantly so far expect that to continue
44:43rangers need to really ramp up the pressure try and get themselves back level in this game
44:51some rangers fans have seen enough not believing that
44:54an equalizer is coming their way in the six minutes that will be added on
44:57um
45:04this will be a hard one to take for rangers after
45:08celtic and abedin ensured that they both dropped points yesterday
45:15but the killy fans are loving it it's taken a while to kick start their season but this
45:22will certainly do it on the back of that epic comeback at dundee
45:44so we've reached the 90th about six more to go
45:52i cannot reckon there should be more than six i bet he does because rangers are in bother here
46:03big bother
46:05well such a disappointing day and it might have been a few rangers fan who actually actually
46:23feared that they would miss their big chance here and it looks like it's turning out that way
46:29right yeah that was a big question before kickoff
46:34what would rangers deal with the pressure and what a win would make
46:42what a win would would mean to them and now you know they're putting everything
46:46into trying to salvage a draw from this situation
47:00hawkins
47:12balagan rangers desperately need someone to step forward but
47:18for the most part it hasn't looked overly likely today
47:25balagan now
47:26as it stands rangers will stay six points off the top two
47:45by rami
47:56two minutes of the extra six are down and this really would be a significant result for
48:14derek rickiness after a tough start yeah it would i think as you say long run of draws great
48:20win up in dundee and we know that once kelly get into the stride it'll be a tough tough test for
48:27anyone
48:40so
48:57quite a swivel there from dowell
49:02it trickles agonizingly wide oh it's incredible excellent from down the middle of the park
49:09and the pass is excellent i thought he was tempted to take the touch
49:14he does it right it's the right thing to do to hit that first time
49:19agonizing for him to go wide of the post
49:21force
49:28walking skull the first the rangers have conceded domestically since
49:34callum mcgregor's cracker for assaulting at the start of september
49:40here's kennedy tracked by dowell way by cason we're home that was cute from indada for kennedy
49:52oh
50:09greedy trying to win the ball when it's not on
50:21into the remaining seconds chap burrows and rory mckenzie coming on the goal scorer
50:30marley watkins will make way and so will mattie kennedy
50:38hawkins doesn't quite realize it wherever he does he's not playing ball on it
50:45oh me yep the goal scorer and maybe the match winner yeah mentioned that great striker play
50:55from watkins chasing that ball down finding the back of the net we're hoping that remains a hero
51:02this afternoon
51:07rory mckenzie on uh just for game number 410 for kilmarnock
51:17nearly there nearly but not quite but eric mckinnis can kilmarnock see this through
51:24leon balligan was clipped there and is just getting to his feet now
51:33and kilmarnock scored the opening goal against rangers in five of the last seven meetings
51:39between the teams now and it might be enough to settle this affair
51:45watson raskam
51:55so
51:59the double substitution in stoppage time will of course increase the number of seconds that remain
52:07yeah i don't think this one will be going short in
52:10with kelly in the first end of the first half jack butlin's on his way up as well
52:17yeah butler looking to make an impact
52:20it's having here sends it in it's away by indaba though butland
52:33that is that and it feels like kilmarnock sees in this
52:36under way at last they've beaten rangers again here at rugby park marley walk gives their match
52:43winner and you can see what it means in this part of the world they struggled to juggle europe early
52:52on but this will surely help them turn the corner the other side of the story though is that rangers
53:00have quite simply blown it and that seems to happen too often their big chance to move within
53:06three points of celtic and aberdeen and they just could not do it or in fact
53:14look like they were going to do it for the most part
53:20now if you're watching on sky sports main events you need to switch
53:24to sky sports football for all the reaction and the analysis and the post-match interviews
53:30from this game
53:37well this is quite a story for kilmarnock and it's been tough but the victory over the old
53:45firm always helps and they've kind of got used to those over the last couple of the seasons
53:50they probably deserve this today but what about rangers missing the big chance to move in on the
53:56yeah well all the talk before the game was could rangers deal with the pressure
54:00could rangers close the gap on aberdeen and celtic no real focus on kilmarnock he turned up
54:07got on with their business made it very very difficult for rangers defensively solid always a
54:13threat in the attack and come on come away with the three points the big question was before the
54:19game could rangers deal with the pressure could they close the gap it's an emphatic note this
54:24afternoon and full credit to come on deserving of the victory it's a major win for kilmarnock
54:31it's a major flop for rangers it ends at rugby park come on at one rangers nil