Kilmarnock Man Of The Match

[fat_tony]

I'm struggling to remember such a whitewash in our MOTM votes before. I missed the game for family reasons... Good to hear Campbell really took his chance today. He's looked impressive any time I've seen him, and it's nice to see Robinson recognising that with a start.

 

Hopefully he can kick on and make the place his own.

[Dezz]

Alan Campbell was absolutely outstanding yesterday. Won every tackle, every second ball, and out-jumped guys half a foot taller than him to win headers.

 

Even more impressively, given his style of play, I can't remember him giving away a foul all game. A fantastic talent who should be getting Scotland under 21 recognition in the near future if he keeps playing like that.

 

Mentions to Bowman and Kipre as well who both were very impressive.

[coop91]

We'll know just how well alan played later when the spotscene pundits start to go on about how we'll never be able to keep hold of him beyond the next window. Standard crap every time we have a decent up and coming player.

[mio]

I think we'll be ok with Campbell, he's not the type of player these morons on sportscene and the press tend to gush over, unless they play for the Celtic or sevco of course. A provincial player that digs in is a 'working like' player, end of!!

[Happy Dosser]

Apart from Alan Campbell's obvious qualities (tackling ability, passing, energy), the main one for me is that his timing in the tackle is excellent: few silly fouls or needless aggression like Messrs Mauchlen and O'Neil.

 

If his development can be managed well by the coaching staff, he should become one of our outstanding assets.

 

He's a real old-fashioned midfielder.

 

Not surprised, according to reports, that the BBC pundits ignored him.

 

"Is it true, or did you see it on the BBC?"

[ONeils40yarder]

Its not very often that its so easy to pick a man of the match award in a match where we thoroughly deserved a win, and there were 6,7,8 players who had very good games...but young Campbells performance on Saturday was sensational. On that performance, he should never be out of the starting line-up, his work-rate, his tackling ability (how many times did he break up Kilmarnock attacks with perfectly executed, ball-winning tackles?) and his energy. I see someone said elsewhere that he is reminiscent of a young Keith Lasley, but for me, as someone who never really took to Lasley as a player, a comparison between the two is doing the kid a bit of a dis-service. Unlike Lasley, he looks like he has genuine footballing ability, to go along with the work-rate that Lasley undoubtedly had, he plays with his head up and is always looking forward.

 

He had a similar stand-out match against Accies last season, and was hardly seen again for the rest of the season, hopefully the gaffer can see what he has to offer...its not often that I get so excited about a young player coming through the ranks, but Campbell might just be our next big thing, and I won't be surprised if he ends up at International level.

[Al B]

What I like most about Campbell is his timing. There are a bunch of hard-tackling midfield players in most of the leagues in the country, but they tend to be more of the "go through everything and clean it out" type. Campbell just seems to have naturally impeccable timing in that although he's that type of player, his tackles are absolutely clean as a whistle. You can't really coach that into someone who doesn't have it, but he does in abundance and it's the difference between being a good midfielder with a decent career, and being a great one with a successful career.

[siebsbarmyarmy]

I've said that before Al, his reading of a game is top notch.

[daver]

I know he plays a different position (and some won't like the comparison) but his tackling technique reminded me of Tom Boyd in how cleanly he tackles and gathers the ball from the tackle rather than just knocking it away.

[welladad]

Since Alan is so far ahead I have voted for Cedric. First time I can remember a standing ovation for a tackle when he stopped Jones at full pelt. Hope we don't get too many idiot decisions like Madden's yellow for a grat legal tackle or he may get suspensions!

[Kmcalpin]

Hope we don't get too many idiot decisions like Madden's yellow for a grat legal tackle or he may get suspensions!

You can put your mortgage on it, if you have one. He yellow carded Cedric for that, even although it wasnrt even a foul, but failed to punish a Killie player for cynically hauling back Bowman by the shoulder when he was breaking into the box.

[daver]

Never mind that, why wasn't the penalty a red card? I know they changed the rules to avoid sending off players making a genuine attempt for the ball but that was a clear cut red card ti me.

[numpty]

I dunno about the letter of the law and I only have one viewing of the highlights to go on, but it looked to me like he'd got his shot away before the contact. So a yellow seemed fair to me, whatever the rule book says. I'd probably say different if it had affected the result, of course...

[Wishielad]

Campbell by a country mile. Bowman, Kipre and Hartley for honourable mentions and Tait didn't do too badly. In fact, the whole team, especially in second half, worked well for that victory.