Match date : Saturday 3rd January 1998 Competition : Premier League Attendance : 8,724
Motherwell scorer : Owen Coyle (24)
KILLIE PUT THE WIND UP MOTHERWELL
Kilmarnock 4 Motherwell 1IN FARCICAL CONDITIONS At Rugby Park, the home side had their biggest Premier League victory over Motherwell as the visitors struggled to cope in the Arctic condtions. Although the scoreline did flatter Kilmarnock somewhat, no-one could deny they coped better with the poor weather.
Indeed, Kilmarnock had the early pressure, but the opening goal was gift-wrapped for the in-form Paul Wright. A cross into the box appeared to catch John Philliben unawares, and as the ball rebounded off the veteran Motherwell defender, Wright drove the ball home from the edge of the box. Soon after Kerr's aimless punt was held up by the hurricane wind, and as Veraille and Martin chased the ball into the Motherwell box, Veraille went down in a dive akin to a sack of potatoes. Clearly it was no penalty, but the Referee seemed also to think it was no dive and allowed the Frenchman to pick himself up. Kilmarnock almost snatched a second, and it was courtesy of Brian Martin. His high pass-back was swept only just over the bar by the gale, much to his and Stevie Woods in the Motherwell goal relief. Motherwell weathered the early Kilmarnock storm and snatched a deserved equaliser mid-way through the half. Coyle's pass to Mcskimming saw the latter drive a low cross into the box. Hendry mis-hit, but as the ball spooled towards Lekovic the wind held it up, allowing Coyle to nip in. As Lekovic fumbled, Coyle showed great sharpness to knock the ball in at the near post. Despite having the lions' share of possession, Motherwell fell behind when Wright, showing great skill, chested down a through ball and turned to drive a shot high past Woods from 18 yards. A terrific finish, against the run of play however and cruel luck on Motherwell. Worse was to follow near half time. Mitchell was allowed acres of space as he approached the box running from the half-way line. He cut inside Martin, and his shot was deflected round Woods and into the far corner.
Half-Time Kilmarnock 3 Motherwell 1The second half was more of a contest on who could mis-place as many passes as possible. It certainly was no weather for football, with wind, snow, rain and even some lightning nearby to keep things interesting. There were two main talking point after the interval. Firstly, following a late challenge by John Hendry on Gus McPherson, the latter retaliated but the whole incident appeared to go unnoticed by the Whistler. However, the standside linesman saw what happened, kept his flag raised, and when the Ref eventually deceided to take notice the upshot was McPherson walked, whilst Hendry remained on the park much to the displeasure of Kilmarnock Boss Williamson. With two minutes to go ten-man Kilmarnock made the scoreline even more emphatic when, having been given room to manouever on the edge of the box, he sent in a dipping shot which really should have presented no problems for Woods in the Motherwell goal. However, the conditions allied to the horrific bounce the ball appered to take completely deceived Stevie Woods, and as he dived the ball went under him and into the back of the net. The win emphasised Kilmarnock's fourth spot in the league, whilst Motherwell were caught by Aberdeen at the foot, and now face an Old Firm double-header with confidence not exactly on a high.
FULL TIME Kilmarnock 4 Motherwell 1