Conor Sammon claimed a second-half brace to propel Kilmarnock to a
comfortable victory over Hamilton at Rugby Park.
After Ben Gordon had given the home team a 34th minute lead, Sammon
scored twice in the first seven minutes of the second-half to take the
game away from the visitors.
Kilmarnock have now won three consecutive Premier League matches 3-0
after achieving the same emphatic scoreline away at Hearts and St
Johnstone in recent weeks.
Mehdi Taouil had the first effort of the game as the ball landed
kindly for him from a Manuel Pascali free-kick, but his driven effort
from long range was held with relative ease by Tomas Cerny in the
Hamilton goal.
Andy Graham set up fellow Hamilton defender Jim Goodwin for a
shooting chance from distance in the 14th minute, but he failed to
connect properly with the strike and it trundled badly wide.
Kilmarnock frontman Conor Sammon turned Martin Canning brilliantly on
16 minutes, but again the eventual finish was disappointing, a weak hit
straight at Cerny.
A dreadful Taouil pass straight to Dougie Imrie created the best of
the early chances as the midfielder put Hasselbaink through, but he
blazed over the bar.
HT: Kilmarnock 1 Hamilton 0 Hamilton were forced into a 24th minute
switch when Hasselbaink, suffering an apparent hamstring injury, limped
off to be replaced by Casalinuovo.
Sammon battled his way beyond Martin Canning on 29 minutes only for
Cerny to dive to his feet and claim right on the edge of the penalty box
amid Kilmarnock protests he had handled the ball outside of the area.
Liam
Kelly collected the match's first caution for a foul on Paixao and from
the resulting Hamilton free-kick, a fierce Imrie strike deflected wide
off the Kilmarnock defensive wall.
The home team moved ahead in the 34th minute when Ben Gordon
stepped inside a Canning challenge and curled the ball expertly past
Cerny.
Hamilton should have levelled when after fine set-up play from Imrie
on the left, Casalinuovo slid in at the far post, but could only direct
his effort over the bar.
Kilmarnock continued to press before the interval and came close to a
second goal when Alexei Eremenko sent a swerving shot just over the bar.
Kilmarnock doubled their lead within a minute of the restart when
Mark McLaughlin and Canning both failed to head clear, allowing
Conor Sammon in behind them to score.
Eremenko was his usual confident self in midfield and the Finn almost
surprised Cerny with an audacious long range chip that only just cleared
the crossbar with the goalkeeper backtracking.
It was 3-0 to Kilmarnock in the 52nd minute when Bryson's searching
cross from the left found the leaping Sammon and his firm
header defeated the diving Cerny.
Sammon was seeking a hat-trick and might have got it on the hour when
Hamilton were unable to deal with a Taouil cross, but the striker shot
wide this time.
Kilmarnock were playing some fluent football now and might have
claimed a fourth goal had Taouil been more precise with his volleyed
finish after a move he started himself in his own half.
With victory seemingly not in doubt, Kilmarnock began to make some
changes, withdrawing Frazer Wright and Eremenko with the weekend trip to
Dundee United in mind.
Jamie Hamill advanced from right-back to send a spinning shot over
the reach of Cerny and onto the top of the crossbar in the 77th minute
as the home team remained dominant.
Sandy's Match Pic's are
HERE
33 mins
