Steve Clarke: Patience was key

Posted Sunday, July 29, 2018 by PA

Steve Clarke admits that the patience his Kilmarnock side showed on their way to securing victory against Queen’s Park was the biggest positive for him.

The Ayrshire side made sure of their Betfred Cup progression as Group H winners with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Ladbrokes League Two outfit Queen’s Park at a blustery Rugby Park.

And Clarke admits that it was a testing afternoon.

“Queen’s were good”, the Killie boss said. “They sat in and made it difficult for us which is something that you’d expect from a team managed by Gus MacPherson.

“We should’ve had a penalty in the first half but when both benches are shouting at the officials then that gives you an understanding of the frustrations there are.

“We had to stay patient and make the pitch as big as we could. We had a lot of chances in the first half but getting that opening goal at that time was really important.”

Clarke’s men end their group campaign with three wins and a draw. They have also kept three clean sheets, with only Dumbarton managing to find a way past Jamie MacDonald.

“I said a couple of weeks ago after the St Mirren game that we just had to win the other three matches and we’d give ourselves a great chance to top the group,” Clarke said. “We’ve done that so it’s great to be going through as group winners.”

Meanwhile, Spiders boss MacPherson praised his players, saying: “We were excellent. We had to stand up to a lot of attacking play from Kilmarnock and we did it well throughout. I can’t fault them.”