Be The Boss - Andrew Partridge

This week's "Boss" is Andrew Partridge whom we don't really know anything about - so we'll let him tell you himself! "I’m a 17 year old secondary school student from Stewarton Academy. I’ve been a season ticket holder at Rugby Park for just under ten years or so and I’m often seen depressed and tearing my hair out in the Frank Beattie Stand." There you have it then...now over to his team selection and tactics for Saturday's rearranged match...

This week we’re coming up against lacklustre Motherwell whose defence has been nothing short of hopeless lately, 17 goals against in the past four games? Eek. This needs exploited, pace on the flanks with deadeye Boyd in the middle will cause ‘Well a lot of trouble. After a good performance in Perth, the boys should be champing at the bit for this weekend.

 

FORMATION: 3-4-3

GOALKEEPER
Jamie MacDonald - Absolutely nothing against Woodman, I just feel MacDonald deserves a chance to show us what he’s got. He’ll be determined to have a good performance to show Lee how class a ‘keeper he is. And anyway, Motherwell don’t seem to be too much of a threat in recent weeks so we should be fine.

CENTRE BACK
Gary Dicker – Need an explanation? Team would fall apart without him.

CENTRE BACK
Kristoffer Ajer – Works very well next to Dicker. His height makes him effective in the air and his long stride and pace make him difficult to beat on the ball. Been excellent for us so far. Scary but exciting when he ventures forward.

CENTRE BACK
Scott Boyd – The last of my defensive trio. Going for experience with this one.

LEFT MIDFIELD
Rory McKenzie - I’m pretty quick to get on his back, especially after some of his woeful outside of the box shooting, but he has a very high work rate, is very quick and has started scoring more often. Should be able to supply the ball to Tyson or cut inside to have a pop at goal effectively.

CENTRE MIDFIELD
Stevie Smith – Very capable when the opposition is going forward and will be key to stopping Motherwell getting to our back three through the middle. Will link up well with McKenzie going forward.

CENTRE MIDFIELD
Sean Longstaff – In addition to being pretty fast, Sean has a high work rate and presses the opposition well, created the chance for McKenzie’s wonder goal against St Johnstone by pressing their keeper. He also seems very confident going forward, and should be able to create some chances for himself and Boyd.

RIGHT MIDFIELD
Jordan Jones – Now, I’m a big fan of JJ, it just hasn’t clicked completely for him yet I think. Reminds me slightly of Tope Obadeyi. Mainly there for pace and to take on his man. A lot of potential in my opinion.

LEFT FORWARD
Nathan Tyson – PACE!!! And he has to score eventually, right? He doesn’t seem great at holding up the ball, so hopefully this will force him to play facing the goal where he can utilise his quickness.

RIGHT FORWARD
Cal Roberts – Another fast one. Fantastic for taking on his man and whipping in crosses to an awaiting Kris Boyd, or alternatively cutting inside. So much potential.

CENTRE FORWARD
Kris Boyd – He shouldn’t have to work too hard in this formation. He’ll have to hold the ball up every so often and offload it to Tyson or Roberts, or play it back to the centre midfielders. This should allow him to get into his poaching positions and bag some goals.

Season Diary - Week 30

Lessons were learned from last week’s narrow defeat and we started the game with what looked to me to be our best XI (minus Kiltie) I have seen all season.

Some sublime vision from McKenzie and a great cross from Taylor feeding the Fish saw all three points come home to Ayrshire…but it was a real team performance and a well-deserved win.

This if course starts the call from some corners for Lee McCulloch to be named boss straight away, before someone else comes in and nabs him, and some saying the opposite, because of his associations with that new team from Glasgow.

I’m definitely sitting on the fence on this one!

I think he more than deserves the chance, but there should be caution on both sides as there is no need to rush an appointment.

Lee (and Peter) has already shown loyalty to the club, maybe he needs to have a long think about whether he wants his first full time managerial gig having that pariah Nancy as his boss!

Be The Boss - Ewan Paton

This week's Boss is Ewan Paton (@naearmbands1) who is a multimedia journalism student at Glasgow Caledonian University. You can follow his blog HERE for a series of updates from the sporting world. The job at Rugby Park is still up for grabs...here is Ewan's team selection for St Johnstone away...

Formation 4-4-2

I've gone for hard working and determined players this weekend as we travel to one of the trickiest away grounds in the league. After the drama of last week with Lee Clark leaving and then collapsing to defeat against Aberdeen, this game matters that wee bit more and Lee McCulloch must get a performance out of the boys so that we don't come away empty handed.

GOALKEEPER
Freddie Woodman - I'm as big a Jamie MacDonald fan as the next Killie fan. However, having spoken to Lee Clark in person a few months back, I certainly trusted his judgement and I think it's clear to see that McCulloch feels the same way after starting him in his first game as caretaker manager. I feel that Woodman is quicker and has better distribution than MacDonald, as well as being a good shot stopper too so that's why he gets the nod from me.

RIGHT BACK
Luke Hendrie - This is an easy choice for me. Luke has been a consistent performer all season and I'm sure I'm not the only Killie fan who was happy to see him extend his loan until the end of the season.

CENTRE BACK
Gary Dicker- He should never have been moved back into Midfield going into the last 10 minutes against Aberdeen- it completely upset the rhythm of the team when Addison came on to allow him to go into the middle. He has the composure and positional awareness to be a top centre half for us for the remainder of the season.

CENTRE BACK
Kristoffer Ajer- Dicker and Ajer seemed to have formed a decent partnership at the back and as well as both being strong enough to physically compete with the opponents strikers, they are both comfortable with the ball at their feet. The 18 year old's mazy runs have also impressed me.

LEFT BACK
Greg Taylor - Another academy product who has become a first team regular. Greg has really sealed the left back position and although he's really going to have his work cut out against a good St Johnstone attack, he can still get forward to help on the counter attacks.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD
Steven Smith - A player who frustrates the life out of me but really has to be in the side. On his day he can be a real asset with his quick closing down and harassing style of play. Will need him to battle against a hardy St Johnstone midfield on Saturday.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD
Sean Longstaff - Of the trio we signed on loan from Newcastle, Longstaff has impressed me the most. He looks like a determined runner and has a bit of a creative spark. While we're still desperately missing Kiltie in this role, I think Sean can fulfil the void until he returns. He also has an eye for goal and his two so far should give him confidence to add a few more to his tally.

RIGHT WING
Rory McKenzie - Personally, I'm a big fan of McKenzie and I think a lot of his hard work goes unnoticed. He's always the first to get slated when the team are struggling because maybe he doesn't quite have the creativity going forward as say Kiltie does, but his running, tackling and all round determination means he will be doing his best to press high and track back all afternoon on Saturday. Rory also took his goal well against Aberdeen and caused them problems for most of the game.

LEFT WING
Nathan Tyson - I feel sorry for the veteran striker. When Boydie was out injured a couple of months ago, Nathan led the line well and his hard work, in particular against Inverness at Rugby Park, merited a goal. I think his physical presence, agility and good work ethic will suit the team in an away game where we won't have as much of the ball.

STRIKER
Conor Sammon - I was delighted to see The Fish return to the club in January on loan until the end of the season. He hasn't exactly set the place alight since returning in the 3 games he's featured in, but after watching him track back on the left wing for the majority of the first half on Sunday, my idea is that we start him up top but when tracking back if he needs to go with the full back, then Tyson can swap with him up front, so it's a fairly versatile option.

STRIKER
Kris Boyd - It's a no-brainer for me. He's in decent form at the moment and is still the best finisher in the team despite being in the twilight years of his playing career. If we get any chances inside the box, there's only one man I want to get them and that's Boomer.

Season Diary - Week 29

Another week, another manager! Farewell Lee Clark and good luck to Lee McCulloch who has taken the job in the interim.

It is easy to look back and say that substitutions on Sunday cost us the game, but on paper replacing your injured defensive midfielder with an even better one and bringing a solid centre back in to shore up the defence to close out the game didn’t seem that nuts.

The game of course is not played on paper and it turned out that the defender wasn’t so solid and changing the back four was a mistake, such is life, you take your punishment and move on.

Technically, given the thrashing they gave Motherwell only days previous, it wasn’t the hammering many predicted, but that didn’t dampen the rage at the end of the game.

Controversially I think that Woodman was partly to blame for their first goal, he should have moved to the ball and given a shout, that said, there was no shout so Addison should have blootered it out of the park immediately, sorry Tank, that one’s ultimately on you.

Queens hit for six as Ladies march on in the Cup.

Queens Park 0 - 6 Kilmarnock

Today marked the start of the competitive season for the seniors as they faced Queens Park in the SWPL 1 League Cup.

The match was played in perfect spring conditions on Lesser Hampden - a huge pitch and a good surface.

Kilmarnock started on the front foot and had several chances to open the scoring. Kirsten Rolph soon had the ball in the back of the net but she was deemed to be offside - a dubious decision.

Kilmarnock finally opened the scoring after Rhona Higgins flicked a header on to Linzi Taylor. Taylor then kept her composure before squaring it across goal for a tap in for Kirsty Munro.

Laura Lyttle got the away sides second of the game with a rocket from 20 yard out which left the keeper rooted to the spot.

Kilmarnock dominated most of the first half and kept Queens attacks to a minimum with a steady and solid performance from the back line.

Killie's third goal of the game came from young Chloe Ponton who found herself in space inside the Queens eighteen yard box. Ponton cleverly controlled the ball in the air before volleying across goal, past the keeper.

Half Time: Queens Part 0 - 3 Kilmarnock

There were no changes made at half time and Kilmarnock kept on the front foot for large spells of the game.

Midway through the half Abby Robinson and Nicole Telford came on to replace Chloe Ponton and Rhona Higgins.

After some more good play, a cross ball from Taylor found Robinson in the middle who excellently finished first time.

Not long after, Robinson got her second of the game when after some excellent build up play from Jillian Campbell she found Nicole Telford. The ball was squared across the goal to Robinson on the stretch to finish into an open net.

The sixth and final goal came from Lauren Steel, who capped off a fine performance with a goal. After some neat build up play working the ball from the back, a wonderful cross from Kirsty Munro found Lauren Steel free at the back post to side foot a volley into the bottom corner.

This was a fine performance performance all round from Kilmarnock Ladies who have secured a place in the next round of the cup.

Turn Your Back Protest Postponed

The Committee of KFCSA were shocked and surprised to learn of the sudden departure of Manager Lee Clark from the Club yesterday. We wish Lee well in his new post with Bury FC.

In order to avoid any possible off field distractions for Interim Manager Lee McCulloch's first game in charge on Sunday it has been decided to postpone the planned "Turn Your Back" protest in the 18th minute.

The Committee will consider when it would now be appropriate to hold such a protest.

We wish Lee McCulloch and the team every success and would ask fans for their continued support of the team in the weeks ahead.

Be The Boss - Alistair Lyon

Well last week's "Boss" Adam Lyon nearly called it spot on, even the formation change with two up front, which is quite impressive. Not so impressed was his old man who spotted the article getting advertised online and bemoaned the fact that in over 30 years as a Killie fan, no one had ever asked his opinion on the team! Well they have now...and for the first time ever we get a father succeeding his son and taking over the KillieFC hot seat...over to Alistair...

Well it's been a decent few weeks that have seen us not quite burst, more slither, in to the top 6. Hopefully we can keep that going to see our highest place finish for a few years and I think I've got just the team to do that. For me it's all about a change in formation that can be either attack or defence minded so it's 3-5-2 or 5-3-2.

GOALKEEPER 
Jamie McDonald - I'm not party to what's going on behind the scenes but on the pitch Jamie's done nothing wrong. Nothing against young Woodman I just don't know why there has been a change.

RIGHT BACK 
Luke Hendrie - We were lucky last year with our loanee right back and I think we've been even luckier this year. Our most consistent performer and I just hope he's fit. If not one of the other twelve right back's will have to step in.

RIGHT CENTRE HALF
Iain Wilson - When he was dropped in at the deep end he was there to be counted. I don't know yet if he's a midfielder but he can play at the back.

SWEEPER 
Gary Dicker - The man people are talking about. I actually felt he was having a good year in midfield but at centre half he's been superb. My decision to go 3-5-2 is down to the fact we are continually overrun in midfield. Gary has shown amazing composure on the ball and I'm building the team around him.

LEFT CENTRE HALF 
Kristoffer Ajer - Because we have to play him but also because he has been superb. I think it was Adam who said last week that he runs out of defence like the legend that is Momo Sissoko. No bad thing.

LEFT BACK 
Greg Taylor - Reminds me of Hooky. He'll do

RIGHT MIDFIELD
Sean Longstaff - A good goal threat and hopefully a good future in the game for him.

CENTRE MIDFIELD 
Adam Frizzell - How can you go from a man-of-the-match performance against Celtic to getting no more game time? A pocket dynamo.

LEFT MIDFIELD
Dean Hawkshaw - This boy looks like he's got a good engine and isn't afraid to tackle. I think he suits this narrow midfield.

STRIKER
Kris Boyd - Past it? Lazy? No good? Rubbish! Club legend, two goals in three games. First part of the season absolutely no service. Get the ball in the correct area and he'll score. Just remember he single-handedly kept us up three seasons ago until he made the worst choice of his football career.

STRIKER
The Fish/Joshua Umerah - I've not seen either of them play yet a hard one to call. Hopefully the fish can recreate his last season but ultimately this position is Greg's as soon as he's fit.

So that's my team/formation. No wingers as they don't deliver consistently enough but they'll be on the bench ready to come on when we need to change the shape, push Ian Wilson in to midfield and go 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1.

'Mon the Killie!