1 week Ago By [email protected] (Paul Thomson)
Giant killer Mick Kennedy hailed East Kilbride's courage and belief after they stunned Championship high-flyers Ayr United to reach the semi-finals of the SPFL Trust Trophy for the first time. Kennedy - who masterminded Darvel's famous Scottish Cup win over Aberdeen in 2023 and knocked out Trust Trophy holders Airdrieonians in the last round - saw his charges produce an impressive display at K-Park to send Scott Brown's side spinning out to an embarrassing 3-2 defeat. Kilby raced into a 2-0 lead inside 13 minutes after man of the match John Robertson rifled home the opener inside 40 seconds and then Jack Leitch headed home from a Robertson cross to put Mick Kennedy's men in dreamland.
The Honest Men hauled themselves back into in the second half when Jay Henderson pounced on a slack pass back from David Ferguson to make it 2-1, before Marco Rus netted in 68 minutes to restore parity and seemingly give the visitors the momentum. However, Kilby produced a tremendous response to go back in front just three minutes later when new signing Ian McShane picked out Cami Elliott in the box and he headed home what proved to be the winner on a memorable night at K-Park. Kennedy told BBC Alba: "When we go into these games against teams of a higher opposition, I think it is so important to impose ourselves on the game.
If we try and sit in and be compact, I think at some point they'll hurt you because of the quality they have got. "So we try and impose ourselves as much as we possibily could. At times it was tricky, but to be fair to the boys they stuck to it, they had a lot of belief and confidence and just worked their way through it, and in the end we got over the line.
"The start comes from the belief the boys have in themselves before we even step on teh pitch. I thought we started really positively, we go 2-0 up and it was a fantastic start. Even though there was a bit of pressure from Ayr, I didn't think they really craeted many opportunities.
"We give them a goal with a mistake from David. When it goes 2-2 against a full-time team, tired legs start to kick in but the boys have got great courage and belief to go and get the third goal. "At times in the first half Ayr's press was really good and a few times we got caught on the press, but it was just about the boys' bravery to keep playing through it.
" EK will now play the winners of Queen's Park v Rangers B, which will be played on December 3, in the semi-final at the end of January 2025. Kennedy added: "The most important thing for the club is to win the Lowland League and get to League Two, but no matter who we've got in the next round we'll be full of conifdence we can beat them and go and iwn the competition Striker John Robertson said: "We played them in pre-season and I got a goal and an assist, so it was the same outcome tonight. I knew I had the boys' number already.
"It is a part-time club but it is basically boys in from League One and League Two so we stand a chance against any team.".
