Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann said there was “no holiday yet” for his players before their last-day livingston vs kilmarnock meeting, insisting the club still had ninth place to play for. McCann said the match would be tough, that the squad would only be on holiday after the final whistle, and that he wanted his side to go and win the game.
Kilmarnock have already secured Scottish Premiership survival in midweek after McCann’s appointment in January, but today’s fixture still carries real weight. If Dundee beat Aberdeen and Kilmarnock beat Livingston, they will finish ninth. They can also climb there if Dundee draw and Kilmarnock win, while a Dundee defeat combined with a Kilmarnock victory would leave Steven Pressley’s side down in third bottom.
McCann said the work his team have done since January has not changed the standard he expects. “We can go and get ninth, no-one is going to hand us it, we have to go and earn it,” he said. “We know it'll be a tough game. After today they're on their holidays, but not until the end of the match.”
He added that the group he selected reflected both form and mood. “The first XI is very much the same. The players on the bench are there on merit. I could have easily brought in some of the young boys but I think the team is reflective of my mood. I want to go and win the game,” McCann said.
The game comes at the end of a bottom-six run-in that has already settled one major issue for Kilmarnock. Their survival was confirmed in midweek, and the focus has since shifted to the scramble for places around the division, with Dundee, Aberdeen, Dundee United and St Mirren all part of the wider picture. On Tuesday, St Mirren’s place in the Scottish Premiership play-off final was confirmed despite their win away to Aberdeen.
Kilmarnock’s victory over Dundee ensured St Mirren could finish no higher than 11th, underlining how tightly packed the end of the table has become. For McCann, though, the equation is simple enough. The club has done the hard part by staying up. What happens next is about whether they leave the season in seventh or settle for less than they can still take themselves.
