Kilmarnock

Hibs lose 1-0 at home to struggling Kilmarnock for a third straight Scottish Premiership defeat, leading to the sacking of head coach David Gray.(Available to UK users only)

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Kilmarnock's first league win of the season away to Hibs on Tuesday "relieves a huge amount of pressure" on manager Neil McCann, according to the club's former goalkeeper Cammy Bell.

The Rugby Park side remain bottom of the Premiership after a 1-0 success in Edinburgh.

However, the points provide a badly-needed boost after a shaky start to the season and a hugely disappointing League Cup exit at home to Aberdeen at the weekend.

"It was a huge result," Bell told the BBC Scottish Football Podcast. "Just exactly what Neil McCann wanted.

"It's a clean sheet. That's been a problem this season, conceding far too many goals and not allowing themselves the chance to go and take points from games.

"Kilmarnock had to bounce back from the cup defeat. It's been 12 years since they've won at Easter Road and it was a brilliant victory - and one Neil McCann really, really needed.

"When you listen to his comments, you know he believes in his group. He says they haven't been getting the results they deserve for the work they've been putting in.

"They had to defend for periods, but they were really good on the ball as well. They offered a number of attacking threats."

Kilmarnock host Hearts on Saturday evening, looking to complete a capital double which could hoist them up the table before a long international break.

"It was a couple of tough fixtures," added Bell. "They were looking at Hibs and Hearts back-to-back and desperate for a win.

"Now that just relieves a huge amount of pressure on Neil McCann and allows them to go and play Hearts, who've had that disappointment as well (losing away to Falkirk)."

We asked for your views after Kilmarnock beat Hibs 1-0 at Easter Road for a first league victory of the season.

Here's what some of you said:

Frank: That result may have put the manager's job on hold for the present. It was a scrappy affair, but a well-deserved victory which could have been more. The officials were shocking, two clear penalties which may have been given with other officials who know the laws of the game. Hopefully this will kickstart our season onwards and upwards.

Anna: It's been a long time coming but it's important we got that first win. Who knows if it'll be enough to save Neil McCann from the chop. I feel if we can get points against Hearts before the international break it'll help stabilise his position. The only way for us now is up.

Gary: A win and a clean sheet at last but it should have been so much easier. Lack of composure in the final third is going to harm us this season and lack of strength in depth on the bench is a worry.

Alan: A fantastic performance from Killie, well deserved and should have been a lot more. Credit to the players and manager for turning it around after Saturday's disappointment. How the penalties are not given just sums up Scottish refereeing. Well done, and roll on Saturday.

Robert: Three points and a thoroughly deserved win. Thankfully the missed chances didn't come back to haunt us. Can't believe the referee didn't award two penalties and at least one red card. VAR a waste of money.

Robert: Great win despite the ref and VAR attempts to let Hibs back in. Shockingly bad decision in the second half to deny Killie two penalties and a perfectly good goal.

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Kilmarnock head coach Neil McCann: "Sometimes from the outside it's easy to not find positives, because of our points and the goals against us. But hopefully we've found a positive tonight.

"We know as a staff how hard those boys are working. It's difficult when you're conceding goals and not winning games but my God, they kept going tonight. They showed there's a bit of steel in there as well.

"We were asked so many difficult questions tonight. At 2-0 up, it's taken away from us. A stonewall penalty on Joe Hugill, which would have been a red card, we don't get it.

"Our character has been tested. The fans were asking questions and voicing their displeasure at times. But we stood up to it. Nobody can say we didn't deserve it.

"That word 'unity' is a good one to use, it's what we've got in this team. But all we've done is get three points on the board, but I'm very proud."

Kilmarnock finally got their first Scottish Premiership victory of the season, consigning Hibernian to a sixth home league defeat in a row with a hard-fought win at Easter Road.

Read the full match report here.

Have your say on the game here.

Sandy Armour
Fan writer

Football managers must tremble with fear when they approach an international break as club owners tend to use the prolonged rest to hire and fire their bosses.

Neil McCann therefore must be shaking in his shoes as a big majority of Killie fans feel his time is up.

Our League Cup exit was embarrassing as we simply had no clue how to break down 10-man Aberdeen.

The manager attempted to change our fortunes throughout, but every switch of formation and every substitution progressively made us worse.

The penalty kick attempts were a disgrace, whatever happened to putting your foot through the ball rather than a tame sidefooted effort?

We have two games before the break but a trip to Easter Road followed by a visit from Hearts doesn't raise my hopes that we are going to get our first three points of the season.

Sandy Armour is editor of The Killie Hippo fanzine

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Hibernian centre-half Grant Hanley returns from injury, while striker Owen Elding is also set for a comeback at home to Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership on Tuesday.

Jordan Obita and Rocky Bushiri remain are on the sidelines.

Kilmarnock are still without centre-back Robbie Deas through injury.

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Rory McKenzie "can feel the pain" of fellow Kilmarnock fans, especially as the 32-year-old midfielder fears Saturday's Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat by Aberdeen "could be the last chance I get" to play at Hampden Park again.

Having held the Dons to a goalless draw in their previous game in the Scottish Premiership, Kilmarnock failed to take advantage of the visitors being reduced to 10 men and exited after a penalty shoot-out.

"I'm a fan, I feel it," McKenzie, who made his debut for the Ayrshire club in 2011, said. "One of the best days I've ever had was going to Hampden. I'm getting on in my career and it could be the last chance I get.

"Believe me, I feel their pain. I know how it feels.

"We won't get a better chance of getting to a semi-final than that. It was on a plate for us, 1-1, man sent off. We just failed to capitalise and didn't play with enough intensity.

"The balls in the box were really easy for Aberdeen to defend what they had. As soon as you get the penalties, it's a lottery, especially with our record, it's a poor record.

"Countless times at this stage of the competition we've not gone through.

"It's just tough to take the way we limped out."

Tuesday's trip to face Hibernian is the start of a run of five matches against teams that finished in the top six of the Premiership last season.

"It's a massive game and we've got a tough run of games," McKenzie added. "We need to start picking up points."

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• Kilmarnock have conceded 14 goals in five Scottish Premiership games this season; the only sides in the 21st century to concede more at this stage of a top-flight campaign are Motherwell in 2005-06 (15), Gretna in 2007-08 (15), and Dundee United in 2022-23 (18).

• Kilmarnock have failed to score in their past three league games, last going longer without a goal in the Scottish Premiership in February 2021 (five in a row).

• Hibernian have lost five successive home games in the top flight for the first time since August 2010. The last side to lose six consecutive Scottish Premiership home matches were Dundee from February to May 2019.

• Kilmarnock have only won one of their past 17 Scottish Premiership meetings with Hibernian (D6 L10), a 1-0 triumph in November 2022 under Derek McInnes.

• Hibernian are unbeaten in 13 Scottish Premiership home games against Kilmarnock since a 1-0 defeat in May 2014.

Kilmarnock fans, we asked for your views after Saturday's League Cup quarter-final defeat to Aberdeen on penalties.

Here's what some of you said:

James: Killie got what they deserved. A man advantage and didn't show any urgency to win in normal or extra time. They look scared to put ball in box or shoot from distance. As for penalties, three were a joke.

Thomas: Simply not good enough. The Neil McCann "bounce " is gone. Time for a change off and on the pitch. We need strong midfielders and a manager the players will play for. Penalty fiasco says it all. Deeply disappointing and future looks very bleak.

Stephen: The lowest point so far in a season of abysmal performances. Failing to beat a struggling Aberdeen team despite having a man advantage for over an hour is frankly unforgivable. Instead of applying pressure, McCann's substitutions actually made us more passive, allowing Aberdeen's ten men to dominate. In isolation this result and performance would have been bad enough, but in the context of how our season has gone it makes you wonder why McCann should be allowed to continue.

Kenny: Getting really sick of Neil McCann. Aberdeen deserved to go through. That was three of the worst penalties I have seen at Rugby Park, Neil McCann will be gone by Halloween.

Scott: Everyone connected with the club should be embarrassed by that performance. Not being able to beat a team that had 10 men for over an hour is unacceptable and very alarming for the league going forward. The less said on the penalty shots, the better.

James M: I don't know where to start. Playing for an hour against 10 men we were terrible, you could argue we were lucky to get to penalties. The manger's substitutions actually weakened the team and the penalty kicks were embarrassing. Kilmarnock got what they deserved, McCann is on borrowed time.

Aberdeen overcame going down to 10 men to beat Kilmarnock on penalties in a thrilling Premier Sports Cup quarter-final tie at Rugby Park.

Read the match report here.

Have your say here.

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Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann: "Clearly a disappointment. Yeah, I'm gutted.

"Everybody connected with the club, that's a real sore one tonight.

"To lose on penalties is never easy, but the manner in which we never took advantage of being a man up for a decent wee part of the 90 minutes, and then extra time, we just didn't do enough with it.

"And yeah, it's a sore one.

"Maybe that's just the mindset of where we are in the league just now. It's maybe crept in towards the latter stages of the game that they're looking for someone else to take the responsibility, someone else to come up with a bit of magic.

"And that again is just about us having to find that bit of character.

"So when you're changing things around to try and get us into better areas with the man advantage, then you're looking for quality, and we did get into good areas, but never had the quality.

"I'm not going to sit here and start getting into the details of the penalties.

"We saw the outcome, we could see the execution of the penalties, and unfortunately we've come out on the wrong end of a penalty shootout, and it's very, very painful.

"I really hope they're hunting, because I am, and they should be hunting.

"If they can brush this off and just bounce into work, then we've got a problem.

"So I don't expect them to be that way because they are hunting in the dressing room, but they've got to use it."

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

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Since the turn of the millennium, Kilmarnock have played seven times at Hampden under four different managers.

For a club of their size, some may view that as an underperformance. For Neil McCann, though, it is a chance to undo much of the early-season malaise and kickstart his first full season in charge at Rugby Park.

When Aberdeen visit on Saturday in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, it is a meeting of two of the top flight's worst-performing sides in the midst of two ponderous starts to the season.

They warmed up with a league meeting that ended in a rather drab 0-0 draw, but there were signs of encouragement for McCann.

Should Killie prevail, McCann will become just the fifth boss this century to give the Killie fans a Hampden trip, and just the second since they won this competition in 2012.

Former Celtic and Hibernian midfielder Scott Allan reckons they are the side most likely to advance.

"On the day, McCann was happy with how his team performed," Allan said on the BBC Scottish Football Podcast.

"And I think that's how he would look at it, it was a better performance from Kimarnock, although they didn't get three points, they created chances and looked a lot safer at the back.

"I think everybody, McCann included, was expecting that new pitch to go in their favour, and it just hasn't up until now.

"I still think there will be a belief there from McCann that they can go and really put Aberdeen under pressure early on.

"So there is a lot riding on it for both managers."

Killie are yet to record a league win and have shipped 14 goals, but did beat local rivals Ayr United in the previous round of the league cup, although have failed to build on the momentum of theat last-gasp winner.

At the end of last season, Killie secured their Premiership status with a fine run of form and inspired attacking football, something they have yet to show consistently this term.

"I probably favour Kilmarnock," Allan added. "Being the home team, and I think after last week there will be a bit more belief than there was previously with the goals they were conceding.

"So I just feel at the top end of the pitch Kilmarnock have got a bit more than Aberdeen."

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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Kilmarnock, along with Falkirk, are one of two clubs to have a worse Premiership record than Aberdeen this season.

The goalless stalemate McCann's men played out at Pittodrie last time out told the tale of two teams low on confidence, but the Ayrshire side were at least able to prevent their goals-conceded tally of 14 in five league games rising.

The way in which Kilmarnock ended last term under McCann had many predicting they would be fighting it out in the top half this campaign - their form from the former Scotland winger's arrival until the end of last season suggested as much.

Given the embryonic stage of 2026-27 we are at, that might yet still happen, although the early signs are not convincing.

Like most Premiership teams, upheaval within the playing squad was the theme of the summer window at Rugby Park, which has also swapped its artificial pitch for a grass surface.

McCann's side looked bright, dangerous and inventive on the ball last term, but they have so far failed to score in half of their 10 games this season, and they have been leaky at the back.

Three of the nine goals they have scored across all competitions came in their last-16 victory against rivals Ayr United in the previous round.

The Kilmarnock boss was all about positive vibes in his post-match interview following that 3-2 win, and he is also optimistic about Saturday's "hell for leather" tie.

Reaching just a second semi-final since they won this competition back in 2012 would give "everyone a lift", said McCann, and he believes it can act as a "catalyst to try and kick on".

Read more: Cup weekend that could define three managerial tenures

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Manager Neil McCann has been speaking to the media before Kilmarnock host Aberdeen in the League Cup quarter-finals on Saturday (17:45 BST).

Here are the key points:

• McCann says the cup tie has a "different feel" from last weekend's league match between the sides and will be "hell for leather".

• He adds: "We set our team out to win every game and we want to be aggressive. It's got a slightly different edge to it because it's a knockout competition."

• Reaching the semi-final would give "everyone a lift" at Rugby Park and can act as a "catalyst to try and kick on from it".

• McCann wants to reward the fans and Killie owner with a trip to Hampden, saying: "We've had wonderful support since we've come into the club and I do feel the boys have got so much to offer this season. To get to the semi-final would be magic for our fans, magic for Billy Bowie and all the board, but more importantly for me right now it's magic for the boys downstairs in the dressing room because they're working so hard daily to try and get themselves into a groove where they're gaining points that we know we're capable of."

• McCann expect a reaction from Aberdeen after criticism from Dons fans in the wake of last Saturday's draw, but Killie have a "laser focus" on victory.

• The Old Firm meeting in the quarter-finals opens things up: "It's obvious because they're the two big guys in the competition with their wealth and experience at winning things. Clearly when they beat each other it's a chance for everyone else to see a route to the last stages."

• Killie's first league clean sheet last weekend was "a good starting point" and McCann adds: "I just felt structurally we were in a good place. I thought we still carried a threat without having that final bit of gloss on it."

• On supporters' disappointment with Killie's poor league start, McCann says: "My goal here when I came in was to stabilise things with Billy Dodds coming in and settling down the squad and avoiding relegation. Of course we've had to adjust our sights in many aspects because of the amount of funding that's gone into training facilities to safeguard the club's future."

• He adds that a "clear objective" is to provide entertaining football for the fans: "We've been working hard at that and the results haven't been up to standard in what we expect and what we want. The fans have been rightly disappointed but hopefully with the result on Saturday and it's just a point, it's only a point, but there's a lot to take from the performance."

Sandy Armour
Fan writer

Killie's first league point of the season could easily have been three.

Manager Neil McCann eventually opted for the formation fans have been crying out for and the improvement was there for all to see at Pittodrie.

The flat back four provided more stability with George Stanger and Cathal McCarthy putting in excellent performances.

Aaron Tshibola, until his slightly harsh second yellow card, and Tom Lowery bossed the midfield.

The width provided by Djenairo Daniels and Erik Ring has been badly needed and offered extra protection for the full-backs, while Greg Kiltie and Joe Hugill grafted hard but just couldn't find the breakthrough.

It's baffling why it took so long for McCann to choose this shape, but hopefully he parks the stubborn attitude and sticks with it for the rest of the season.

It's another meeting with Aberdeen on Saturday, this time at Rugby Park, and a League Cup quarter-final win would properly kickstart our season.

Stephen Robinson is coming under increasing pressure from Dons fans and I fancy Killie to fire another nail in the coffin with a 2-0 win.

Sandy Armour is editor of The Killie Hippo fanzine

Watch the highlights as Aberdeen and Kilmarnock played out a goalless draw at Pittodrie in the Scottish Premiership. Available to UK users only.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Kilmarnock midfielder Rory McKenzie hopes their Premiership point at Pittodrie can "kickstart" their season.

A 0-0 draw away to Aberdeen on Saturday saw Killie get off the mark for the Premiership campaign.

The result - and welcome clean sheet - ended a run of four league defeats for Neil McCann's team, a sequence within which they conceded 14 goals.

"I think we showed quite a bit of character," McKenzie said after the game at Pittodrie.

"Our away form in recent years hasn't been good enough. Although it feels like a couple of points dropped just now, I think a point on the board away from home is something we have not done enough of the last couple of seasons.

"It doesn't feel great just now but I think over the next few days it can hopefully kick-start the season."