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6.10pm

Our 7 match unbeaten run came shuddering to a halt at Rugby Park this afternoon when we went down 2-0 to a far hungrier looking Kilmarnock side.  This was our worst performance in a long, long time and we can have no complaints about coming away empty handed from a match which was played in torrential driving rain throughout.

Scott Leitch recovered from his shoulder injury to take his usual place in the middle of the park, meaning that Terry Butcher named the same starting eleven for the TENTH consecutive match.

My mates and I missed the start of the game due to roadworks in East Kilbride, and by the time we got to the stadium the 'Well were already 1-0 down, with Killie's Canero apparently skinning Stevie Hammell all too easily before beating Gordon Marshall from a tight angle.  However, the goalscorer should have been red carded midway through the first half when he hauled down David Clarkson at the edge of the box when he was clearly the last man.  Unbelievably, referee McCurry failed to even book the Kilmarnock winger.  From the resulting free kick, Derek Adams brought a decent save out of Dubourdeau in the Killie goal in what was probably our only shot on goal in the opening 45 mins.

Motherwell went close at the start of the second half with a header that was tipped round the post by Dubourdeau, but the game was virtually killed off as a contest on the hour mark when Stevie Hammell made a complete mess of a clearance in box, which allowed Boyd to score from close range.  Hammell was subbed shortly afterwards along with the equally ineffective Stephen Pearson, but their replacements in the form of Paul Quinn and Jason Dair made little impact.  Late on we had a couple of free headers from corner kicks, but sadly failed to test the goalkeeper on either occasion and Killie held on for a comfortable win.

This was poor stuff all round today in a performance sadly reminiscent of last season.  Our strikeforce was powder-puff, the midfield was non-existent, and we were punished badly for defensive slip-ups.  There aren't really as positives to take from the game as we were second best throughout, although the other results mean that we remain in fourth position in the league table.

 Team (4-4-2): Marshall, Corrigan, Hammell (Quinn 63), Partridge, Craigan, Pearson (Dair 63), Adams, Leitch (Burns 73), Lasley, Craig, Clarkson.
Subs not used: Corr, Fagan.

Booked: Pearson.

Crowd: 6,320.

Terry Butcher's post-match comments were as follows:
"We were never in the game. Full credit to Kilmarnock they fully deserved the three points. There's no excuses and we didn't deserve anything on the day.  We never played anywhere near our standard and that's disappointing because we know we can play better and we have to play better than that to get anything from games.  But it's how we recover from that set back which is important.  We have to get our heads up and go again because better teams than us have off-days and we certainly had an off-day.  We're still fourth in the league and we had a good run and it's sad that it's come to an end."

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