If you’re an avid admirer of Scottish football, you’ve probably ran out of superlatives to throw at Steve Clarke. Kilmarnock’s turnaround under him is frankly phenomenal, despite a current sticky patch of form. Should fans begin to hit the panic button?
After all, they haven’t won since defeating Rangers at Rugby Park almost a month ago. That night, Rangers-bound Jordan Jones netted the winner for his current employers against his future ones. You couldn’t make it up.
Jordan Jones is set to hook up with Steven Gerrard’s Rangers in the summer. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Kilmarnock’s next task is getting the better of Steven Gerrard’s side at Ibrox. A Scottish Cup quarter final place is the prize,the winner heading to Pittodrie against Aberdeen.
Against the Gers’ rivals, they looked to be on course for a point before Scott Brown’s late strike sent Celtic eight clear at the top of the tree.
Recent frustrations
Prior to the win against Rangers, they’d lost twice at home in the league. They’ve since doubled that tally with four league defeats at Rugby Park.
At the minute, a point on the road is followed up by defeat at home. The stalemate at Aberdeen, in which they went down to ten men, was followed by a home defeat to Hearts. The Jambos have won twice at Rugby Park this season, uncharacteristic of Clarke’s Killie.
Killie’s Daniel Bachmann saves Kenny Miller’s 94th minute penalty at Dens Park in the draw against Dundee (photo by David Young/Action Plus via Getty Images)
Having come twice from behind to tie on Tayside against Dundee, they were lucky not to lose their point thanks to Kenny Miller’s late penalty miss. Killie seem to be shooting themselves in the foot a lot as of late, also unable to get the better of Rangers in their round of 16 tie in Ayrshire.
With a tricky task awaiting them in their replay, many have written Killie off already. Yet, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt during Clarke’s tenure, it’s that they can prove you wrong. Still in the European places, there’s a long way to go. It’s too early to call where Killie will end up just yet.