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Kilmarnock 3 Ayr United 2: Killie bounce back twice to secure Ayrshire derby victory under the lights Goals from Joe Hugill and Michael Schjønning-Larsen hauled the hosts level on each occasion before substitute Nicky Clescenco completed the turnaround Kilmarnock came from behind twice to defeat Ayr United 3-2 in a pulsating Ayrshire derby and book their place in the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup. In front of a raucous Rugby Park crowd, Killie were made to do it the hard way as Owen Stirton and Ross Taylor struck at the beginning of either half to twice put the visitors ahead. But goals from Joe Hugill and Michael Schjønning-Larsen hauled the hosts level on each occasion before substitute Nicky Clescenco completed the turnaround to send Rugby Park into raptures and Neil McCann’s side into the last eight. After a difficult start to their Premiership campaign, it was exactly the response the manager and his players needed – and there are few better ways to deliver it than against your fiercest rivals. Here’s our reaction to the main talking points… Northern Carpets & Beds are a locally run bed & carpet showroom offering very competitive prices and exceptional service to the whole of Ayrshire & beyond. We are proud to back the Chronicle and look forward to seeing fellow Killie fans soon in store or on our website! Result is all that matters… This is one of those where fans would have taken any sort of victory. Performance was secondary. For long periods, though, it never looked like the result would come as Killie were hardly anything to shout about. All over the park, Ayr looked hungrier for much of the evening, but that ultimately means little when it is Kilmarnock who book their place in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final draw. At the risk of drowning in negativity, Neil McCann’s men deserve loads of credit for bouncing back. Not just from their poor start to the season, but coming from behind twice on the night showed immense character and trust in what they were set up to do. Fans will remember this derby for a long time, and mostly for all the right reasons. There is no question that performance levels must improve, but this may just be the result that kickstarts their season. Lessons learned or more of the same? After Sunday’s demolition from Celtic and with everything at stake tonight, it was important not to concede early. Instead, Kilmarnock once again gave themselves a mountain to climb. They were exposed down the right after Jamie Brandon gave the ball away cheaply. It found its way to Scott McMann, who had no pressure on him and all the time in the world to put the ball into the danger area, where Owen Stirton simply wanted it more and stabbed past Max Stryjek, who perhaps could have done better. The goal sent the Chadwick into raptures as hearts sank in the other three quarters of the ground, with the atmosphere subdued as Killie were once again asked to come from behind. There were elements of Celtic all over again. Every time the hosts gave up possession and their rivals countered, they looked capable of scoring with Neil McCann’s men all over the place at the back. There were periods of sustained pressure from the hosts as they huffed and puffed but struggled to properly test Harry Stone in the opposition goal. After being criticised last week for not making changes at half-time, McCann shuffled the pack after 38 minutes, bringing Nicky Clescenco on for the struggling Brandon and shifting Erik Ring to right-back. Four minutes later, the mood changed as Joe Hugill brought them level just before half-time – and how that flipped the atmosphere. When Matthew MacDermid blew for the break, the home stands were suddenly geed up and raring to go. It had been a frustrating first-half showing from Killie, but Hugill’s strike gave them the platform to reset at the break – or so you’d have hoped! However, as it turned out, it set the stage for a very different ending to the night. The Diamond It has very much been a topic of conversation in recent weeks whether the diamond actually plays to Kilmarnock’s strengths or not. There were periods where it worked a treat last season, but there were also many times where it left a struggling defence far too exposed – and this was another one of those occasions. The full-backs are key to providing the width, but too often they were caught far too high up the park, leaving the centre-halves vulnerable. It certainly brings out the best in Michael Schjønning-Larsen going forward – with another goal to show for it – but there remains a trade-off defensively. The only change from Sunday was vice-captain Robbie Deas returning from suspension to replace Johnly Yfeko. Again, there was an air of surprise around the pubs before the game, with many anticipating more changes and perhaps a switch in system, but it was largely more of the same. The manager did change the shape with 20 minutes to go, with Mark O’Hara replacing Aaron Tshibola in the middle of the park as Killie switched to a 4-4-2. It must be said that O’Hara’s introduction changed the game in the hosts’ favour as he slotted in well next to man of the match Tom Lowery. He has certainly staked his claim for a starting place when they return to league action against Dundee United at Rugby Park in two weeks’ time, with next weekend’s trip to Easter Road postponed due to Hibs’ European exploits. However, we’ll leave the tactical intricacies for Gaby to deep dive into next week. Finishing touch One thing you cannot argue with this evening is the quality of Kilmarnock’s goals. Hugill’s first-half strike to send the sides in level at the break was exactly what the doctor ordered after Killie had struggled to really test Stone up until that point. After good link-up play with strike partner Tyreece John-Jules, the number nine took one touch to set himself before drilling the ball into the far corner to give the stands hope. Despite being quieter than he’d have liked this evening, he stepped up when it mattered. Schjønning-Larsen then dragged Killie up the park as he went on a one-man mission to keep their cup dream alive. He carried the ball from his own half to the edge of the Ayr United box before cutting inside and drilling beyond Stone to swing the pendulum in Killie’s favour. Next up was substitute Clescenco, who had been brought on in the first half to change the shape and dynamism of the hosts. After Stone spilt a cross, the Moldovan winger calmly took a touch and chipped it into the back of the net, with the defender on the line unable to stop his audacious effort. McCann referenced the quality of all three strikes post-match and, on a night where Killie were far from their best for long spells, those moments of individual quality ultimately proved the difference. Atmosphere With a crowd of more than 11,000 packed into Rugby Park, the atmosphere was always going to be a talking point. In and around the ground, and as the stands started to fill up, you had to say the visitors certainly seemed more up for it, with nerves circling among those of a Killie persuasion. That was perhaps always going to be the case with Ayr starting the season buoyantly and McCann’s men leaking goals at the back. Throw into the mix the fact that the pressure, more often than not, is on the Rugby Park side in these games. The club answered the call from supporters to stop the music over the sound system drowning out the atmosphere before the game, but it maybe didn’t land as both club and fans would have hoped. Just as the atmosphere was starting to build from both sides, the announcement came over the tannoy that it was over to the supporters to take charge – but truth be told, it fell a little flat. The home support were quickly silenced after The Honest Men took the lead after just four minutes. And just as the mood changed going into the second half, Ayr were quick to silence the home stands again by restoring their lead two minutes after the restart. However, after Schjønning-Larsen took it upon himself to drag Killie back into it, the atmosphere changed. The home stands properly got behind their side and then it was their turn to burst into raptures as substitute Clescenco chipped the ball into the back of the net. And the celebrations didn't stop with the winner. At full-time, the home stands stayed behind to properly sing their players off the park after a derby victory that clearly meant plenty to everyone of a Killie persuasion. Credit has to go to both sets of supporters. With 11,300 packed into Rugby Park on a Friday night, it showcased the Ayrshire derby in all its glory – fierce, noisy, passionate and meaning absolutely everything to those on either side of the divide. Here is what the manager had to say post-match… Thoughts on the game “I’m absolutely delighted. Cup football is absolutely about getting through. I’ve been in a fortunate position where I’ve been on the winning side when we’ve gone to cup finals and nobody really cares how you get there. It’s about just progressing in cups all the time. “We can play better, but what I’d like to say is that I don’t think anybody can say that we didn’t deserve to win tonight. We were pushing the game, we were controlling the game. “When you’re open and you’re pushing to try and get your dominance over by scoring, you’re always going to be liable to a counter-attack, always, and that’s a threat. To be fair, the two boys up top, Taylor and Stirton, gave us a wee bit of trouble when we went up to them because they work so hard and they get runners from midfield. “So that was always the danger when you’re being so open. I have to compliment the boys as well, to have the guts and determination twice to come back and then keep pushing for the winner. We weren’t settled on extra time. “I could hear Gary asking how many subs he can maybe make in extra time, and I just always felt we had another chance. I think, as a coaching team, we worked hard tonight to try and give them a variety of different problems to solve. “We had to make subs, we had to change positions because they seemed to be set. They were defending brilliantly as a team and it was back-to-the-wall stuff. “Our quality from wide areas was poor tonight and that’s something we’ll look at, but you can’t argue with the quality of the finishes. Joe’s finish is brilliant, Mick’s is brilliant, and Nicky’s is a touch of class, actually, because at that stage of the game he could have rushed it and smashed it and it could have been blocked. “But to have the awareness and the ability just to lift it over into the net… “If you’d have asked the Kilmarnock fans, they might have wanted a big win, but to win it in that way, there’s just something nice about it for a supporter, I can imagine. “It’s certainly nice from my perspective. I’m so happy for the players and I’m so happy for everybody connected with Kilmarnock.” Nicky Clescenco “He’s probably going to look back and think that he can do a lot more with it because he had a bit of the ball tonight. But the job of a winger, I told him, I couldn’t care less if you lose it, because your job as a winger is to go and try and eliminate a full-back and put balls in the box. That’s a wee bit of quality we’ll need to keep working on. “But his intention is good. I know that first-hand because that was my job as well. We shifted him to the right to give Ayr a wee bit more of a difficult task, with Kilts and Ieuan coming in and letting Mick go on the underlap because we know he’s so strong when he gets into those positions. “His quality was poor from wide areas tonight, but his finish was anything but, and I think we deserved it.” Did you feel the third was coming? “I did, I did. I felt we would score as well. “As I said, as a coaching staff, you can’t just sit there and look at the boys and think, hope they’re just going to get something. You’ve got to keep asking questions. “So we made subs, we changed bodies about, and we got the response we were looking for. “The fans may be a wee bit quiet because they feel the same as me. It’s like you’re giving teams a start. Early in the game, five minutes into the game, we’re 1-0 down. A couple of minutes into the second half, another one, and it just flattens the atmosphere. “It asks questions of the fans to be patient, and I felt for the largest majority of them, they were, and they got their rewards.”