Monday 28 December 2015

Season Diary - Week 22

Well I was wrong about the Boxing Day being cheerless, and I’m more than happy to admit that, with a first ever win at New Douglas Park that I can recall. That said, let’s not kid ourselves on here, although the driving rain didn’t help the first half was like watching an amateur game and if it hadn’t been for Balatoni popping up on the line from absolutely nowhere, we would have been behind again.



The second half wasn’t much better with both teams failing to impress, but for once we got the rub of the green and a bit of a miss-kick by Tope managed to loop in over the goalie to send the Killie fans into a festive frenzy. Kudos to all those who travelled, over 700 of a 2,000 crowd is beyond the call of duty especially given recent results. By the time you read this we will have been to Dingwall, I will reserve judgement on whether we have turned any corners until after that and Hearts at home.

Wednesday 23 December 2015

Boxing Day Bus

Young Kilmarnock are running a bus on Boxing Day to see the Killie game despite the normal Saturday Club being suspended for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The bus will leave from Power League (behind ASDA on the Queen's Drive) at 1:30pm on Saturday 26th December 2015.


Tickets will cost £20 for adults and £15 for children, and at this point there are only 15 seats left so if you want to book a place you better get your skates on.

The number to call to book seats on the Young Kilmarnock bus is 07969 083672. Merry Christmas everyone from all at Young Kilmarnock!

Tuesday 22 December 2015

Season Diary - Week 21

They say a week is a long time in politics...well let me tell you it seems far longer if you are a Killie fan! Having a look back at the columns this year it would appear that I have tried to be patient with the manager and not once called for his head, despite a cacophony of catastrophic results. Now the poor performances are trying my patience and most fans would agree that it is probably time for a change in direction.


Aberdeen gave us a lesson on Saturday that should have been learned after successive heavy defeats at the start of the season, but we seem to be going backwards not forwards and all we have to look forward too is our best players leaving for peanuts in the coming months. We are being let down by the board, the management and the players at the moment, there may not be much festive cheer come Boxing Day.

Tuesday 15 December 2015

Hospital Visit


Gary Locke took his squad on another away trip on Monday and there were fortunately no losers as
the players were handing out gifts at the Children's Ward of University Hospital, Crosshouse.


The manager told the official website: "The team appreciate the opportunity to chat with patients and their families. It’s also great to see first hand what an amazing job the staff at Crosshouse Hospital do on a daily basis”.


The patients, their families and the staff were clearly delighted that the club took time out of their busy schedule to make the visit in what has become an annual event.


Goalkeeper Jamie McDonald said: "We love coming here to visit the sick children ward, which for the community is a great thing; to get out and about, see the people, and try and bring a bit of happiness at this time of year with some gifts and stuff."


He added: "All the boys are here and we are doing the rounds, going round the doors, trying to see as many people as possible. I have two kids myself and when you come to places like this you realise how fortunate you are they have good health."


"It's a very difficult time for the parents, more than most they are the ones that have to deal with things. if we can bring a wee bit of cheers and take their minds of it for even half an hour, just to give them a little bit of a break then we've done our job. It's nice to get involved in community things."



"We've met a few fans already and we've had our pictures taken with them. There was a little girl Meadow who was lovely and her family were all Killie fans so we sorted them out with autographs and stuff and although it's only maybe ten or fifteen minutes of the day its nice to see them get a lift."


"It makes you feel good to do these things; the club as I said is a community club and its good to meet the fans. Things are maybe not great on the park at the moment so its great to be able to give something back."




Good work Killie....and GREAT work all the staff and employees at the hospital, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all...we hope not to see you soon!








Monday 14 December 2015

Season Diary - Week 20

It has been a long while since there has been as few travelling Killie fans as was the case at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday. Six supporters’ clubs shared a single bus, the Travel Clubs, because the combined factors of distance, weather, cost and poor form gave even the biggest die-hards a serious decision to make…and to be fair it is still up in the air who actually got it right.

The festive spirit of those who made it to Inverness was sorely tested with a dismal first half display that saw the home side capitalise on slack defending from McHattie only quarter of an hour in. Failure to clear our lines saw them double that lead ten minutes before the break with Killie offering nothing going forward of note.


Locke replaced Slater and Obadeyi with Carrick and Kiltie at half time and the we did improve to a degree with a few chances. We had a stone wall penalty claim for a blatant infringement on the edge of the six-yard box as Boyd laid the ball off to Hamill, whose shot cannoned off a Caley defender’s hands. The referee was having none of it though.

We clawed a goal back at the end with Balatoni connecting with a Smith corner and Connelly appearing at the back post to drill it in, but it has to said that the result was a fair one and we will have to do far better if we are going to get back out of that play-off position and remain safe.


Match Report | Fixtures | Hotshots | League Table

Wednesday 9 December 2015

Season Diary - Week 19

Gary Locke really shuffled the pack ahead of the Dundee United game in terms of personnel and tactics, going with three at the back for the first time that I can remember. It certainly seemed to work from the outset with Killie clearly on top and a great cross in from big Josh on the right saw Boomer do what he does best and fire the ball into the net to give as a lead with only four minutes gone.

 

The pressure continued and we could have been another two or three goals to the good until disaster struck after twenty minutes and the referee awarded an extremely dodgy penalty and sent off Findlay. The Arabs took the initiative and drew level and upped the the tempo to try and ram home their advantage in numbers…but we stuck to the task and to be honest could have sneaked the result at the end had Slater’s run and shot not hit the post.

In extended news (this part won't appear in the Scotsman) Young Kilmarnock had their Christmas Parties at the weekend. The older kids had the Odeon to themselves to watch "The Good Dinosaur" and the younger ones had a magician and party games at the Fenwick Hotel. Rory McKenzie was in attendance to help Santa give out some gifts...which is a wee change from our defence doing that.

 

The Killie Trust AGM was at the new (very smart) Railway Village and Chairman Jim Thomson gave a run down on the past year's events. The main topic of conversation was the "Trust In Killie" initiative which aims to inject £100,000 initially into the club via a type of crowd-funding scheme to give fans a genuine seat on the board. There still seems to be some resistance to the idea though and progress is being thwarted by the proverbial red tape.

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Xmas Parties

The Young Kilmarnock Christmas Parties take place on Sunday 6th December 2015.

Members aged 6 years and over and who have booked their place, should be at the Odeon Cinema; Queen's Drive, Kilmarnock for 9.30am for the 10am screening.


There will be a choice of two films to select between...but you will have to be there to find out what they are and which of them your kid(s) want to see.

Members aged 5 years and under should attend the Fenwick Hotel for at 1:50pm for a 2:00pm party start. There will be the usual fantastic fun, entertainment, magic tricks and party games.

We are expecting some special guests arriving at both venues and, who knows, if you are good, you might even get a wee prezzie!

Season Diary - Week 18

The manager took the praise he was rightly due last week, and he is going to have to take the criticism this week for the capitulation at Rugby Park; our players seem to struggle more on this pitch than anyone else!

I don’t understand why we would try and go with the same team and tactics against Partick Thistle at home as we would away to the league leaders, horses for courses and all that surely? Findlay, other than being ineligible last week, has done nothing to deserve to be dropped, and Slater should surely be starting if available as well?


We had Dan Marcolini and his three sons over from Verona and Peter Nederlof and his group over from Amsterdam just to see the game, what with the weather and the result I bet they wish they hadn’t bothered!

Like many in the home support, I clapped Muirhead’s first goal before I even realised who it was, we are Killie fans first and foremost but as football fans you can still appreciate a well hit strike…and understand the irony of his salute to the numpty who sold him on for peanuts behind the previous manager’s back.

Next week is crucial, all we can do is turn up, get behind the team and hope for the best.