Don't Judge Team When It's Stripped Of Our Top Talent
Dec 5 2007
Billy Brown Killie No.2 Writes Exclusively For You, Daily Record
LAST weekend was a strange one in Scottish football.
Celtic were robbed of victory against Hearts at Tynecastle by a last-minute penalty and Rangers were denied three alleged stonewall spot-kicks against Kilmarnock at Ibrox.
It is not often either of these things happens. Having watched the incidents in question I believe Kenny Clark got it spot on in Edinburgh and Alan Freeland called every decision correct in Glasgow, although I am sure the Rangers management team would disagree.
The only contentious one was the challenge on Charlie Adam but if you study it closely there is no contact and Freeland did well not to be influenced by the crowd.
Don't get me wrong, though, Rangers thoroughly deserved their victory and could have won by more.
We travelled to Ibrox hoping to play a certain way but lost a goal after just four minutes and could have been three or four down after 15 minutes but I felt we responded well.
I never usually bother too much about what's said about us in the Press but some of the so-called quality newspapers ridiculed our performance and that riled me.
We are low on resources and on a bad run but last weekend's results showed that, out with the Old Firm, no SPL team can cope with losing the services of their best players.
Clubs such as us, Hibs, Aberdeen and Dundee United need their best 11 available for selection every week.
I know that cannot happen but last weekend Hibs were without Rob Jones when they lost to Aberdeen and Dundee United were without several key personnel when they were defeated by Inverness at Tannadice. That illustrates my point. It is no surprise to see Motherwell doing so well as they have had continuity in selection all season.
But although we had a weakened team at Ibrox the picture wasn't as bad as some people painted.
This run is hard to bear but we should be judged when we are able to field our full-strength side.
And let's not forget we were playing against a team who can qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Speaking of which, I have to say the decision to postpone Rangers' game against Gretna to allow them to prepare for their crucial match against Lyon was the correct one.
Kilmarnock are right behind anything we can do to help our Euro sides advance to the latter stages and improve the co-efficient.
My only concern is that a precedent has been set and any club asking for a game to be put off because of specific European commitments will be able to apply for a postponement and get one.
Would we get similar treatment in the future if we qualified for Europe and asked for one of our SPL games to be rescheduled?
I would like to think so. I am all for the idea and wholeheartedly agree that Scottish clubs should get the best possible chance to advance in European competition.
We travel to Aberdeen on Saturday and, once again, the game will be a difficult test for us.
The Dons will be buoyed by their victory against a high-flying Hibs team.
We will have to keep our chins up and be strong-willed if we are to get anything from our trip to Pittodrie.
On the plus side, Frazer Wright and Simon Ford have signed new deals with us and that is great news as they are fantastic lads to work with.
They are both good players who have a lot of their careers still ahead of them and Jim Jefferies and I are absolutely delighted Frazer and Simon have committed their immediate futures to Kilmarnock.
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