A game in hand at home to St. Mirren. Then a home game against Dundee. Only three points required from these two games. Kilmarnock couldn't have asked for a better shot at clinching the final top six place.
Killie's clash against the Dens Park side would have been academic had they done better than a 1-1 draw against the Buddies three days earlier. But they were still odds-on favourites for sixth spot in the SPL, only to lose out thanks to some delicious late twists; Gary Harkins, who left Killie in January, conjured up a brace to give a Dundee a 2-1 victory at Rugby Park. Even then, a draw at Tannadice would still have let Kenny Shiels' side off the hook...only for Rory Boulding, who left Killie in January (see a theme here?) to strike with the last kick of the game. Dundee United make the top six. Kilmarnock do not. It was a double success for Boulding, who presumably scored just to make me look like a twat for calling him the worst signing of the season. More fool me.
Meanwhile, it was a bit of a pyrrhic victory for Dundee - it simply fends off their inevitable relegation for another week, and in fact denies them a money-spinning post-split home derby with United. As for Kilmarnock, seventh place seems about right. At no point this season have they looked like they should be in the upper echelons of the league, but neither have they been in the bottom three. They've actually won only three league games since Boxing Day, but that record is roughly comparable with the teams they were fighting for that coveted sixth spot.
I wonder, in Killie's case, how much the arrival of Kris Boyd - or, to give him his full title, Fat Kris Boyd - helped or hindered their cause. Boyd scored in both the St. Mirren and Dundee games, but he is now even less useful outside the penalty area than in his Rangers days, given his girth and lack of mobility. Given Kilmarnock have benefitted so much in recent times from the hard work of Paul Heffernan (who partnered Boyd against Dundee) and the hold-up play of Cillian Sheridan, Boyd doesn't seem to fit in very well. Sheridan appears to be hugely out of favour, barely even getting off the subs bench at the moment. But you'd be a brave manager to leave out the SPL's all time leading goalscorer, even if he is tubby.
More likely, Kenny Shiels has been unable to replace the injured James Dayton. The Englishman has been in sparkling form recently, though his manager's attempts to tout him for England last week may have been the most ridiculous comments he has made all season (and that's saying something). But a rib injury in Dingwall caused him to miss the last two matches, and his flair and creativity were sorely absent.
But seventh in the table is where Kilmarnock finished last season, so there won't be all that much complaining going on down Rugby Park way. You can't say the same regarding Aberdeen and Hibs.
November seems such a long time ago now. Yet, that month, Hibs came into a match at Dundee top of the table, and Aberdeen were three points behind in third. Hibs lost that day. They have managed only three league wins since - and just 16 points from the last 60 available (thanks to Scottish Football Blog for that stat). Aberdeen have managed just 20 from the same period. The Dons have at least got the excuse that their home pitch at Pittodrie is in such disrepair that it stopped Craig Brown's side from playing the ball on the deck and therefore getting the best out of players like Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn. Pat Fenlon can hardly say the same.
Fenlon can at least claim some progress - barring a spectacularly awful end to the campaign, Hibs will finish higher than their eleventh place last May - but, looking at their squad, the club's support were entitled to expect better. It appeared at times earlier in the season that they were heavily dependent on 20 goal striker Leigh Griffiths, and that they struggled mightily when he was off the boil. Since the New Year, Hibs have started losing matches even when Griffiths is playing well, which is hugely worrying. The likes of James McPake and David Wotherspoon, impressive before Christmas, have regressed - Wotherspoon is no longer an automatic first choice. Midfielders Matt Done and Scott Robertson, January transfer window signings, have added nothing to the side. Maybe Kevin Thomson can provide a spark when he is fully fit?
I said it in December - a few days before Hibs beat Celtic, just to make me look like a complete prat - that the situation at Easter Road had begun to smell of the one Fenlon had inherited from Colin Calderwood - a bunch of relatively well-paid players who weren't gelling together, and who were living on past glories - a bunch of prima-donnas, essentially. Now the smell has become an almighty stink. There's no backbone at all. When the going gets tough, these players, with the exception of Griffiths and goalkeeper Ben Williams, do not get going.
So far, Fenlon has largely escaped criticism. Having had five managers in the six and a half years since Tony Mowbray left, the club and the fans crave stability. But the only solace left in Hibernian's season is that they are still in the Scottish Cup. Lose next weekend's semi-final with Falkirk, and the knives will be well and truly out.
Over at Pittodrie, a disappointing season has led to a managerial change, as Derek McInnes becomes the next man to take on what appears to be Scottish football's Mission Impossible. Fenlon can only hope that his employers don't follow their lead.
L.
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