The boss red the riot act to his players at the break – as they came from behind to defeat the Hoops.
Matty Kennedy admits a half-time rollicking from boss Derek McInnes was the catalyst for Kilmarnock’s fabulous fightback win over champions Celtic.
The Rugby Park ace picked the most magical time to score his first-ever goal for the club with a late winner to sink the league leaders. Kennedy’s golden moment came with two minutes of normal time remaining after Nat Phillips’ own goal had cancelled out a Matt O’Riley opener. McInnes’ men were barnstorming after the break after being relatively bleak in the opening half.
The manager laid into his troops at the interval and the transformation was astounding as they hounded the league leaders into submission. Kennedy explained: “To be fair the gaffer went through us [at half-time], about eight of us and said we need more and it wasn’t good enough. So that’s probably had an impact on the players and the second half showed that.
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“I don’t think we showed them too much respect. It was just another team and we tried not to show them too much respect, but they do pin you back because they have too many good players. People might think we showed them too much respect in the early part of the game, but it is difficult against them with their movement. But, once we got to grips with that and their personnel, we got on top.”
McInnes had to lift it as, when asked if the players retained full belief they could win at the halfway stage as they trailed, Kennedy admitted: “Maybe not when we were 1-0 down. But we stuck to our guns, we knew it was going to be difficult especially when we went 1-0 down because they have good players all over the park.
“I felt like we were right in the game and I thought: ‘You know, we could actually win this.’ I tried to say that to the boys all across the pitch. I knew we had a chance.
“A lot of the times, you aren’t able to take your chances against Celtic, but we did. We had a bit of luck, but we did what the manager told us to do and eventually we got the goal. Maybe the last half an hour, I thought we looked like the team who were taking the game to them. I thought we were the ones who looked like we would go on and win.
“We created chances and we drove forward. They had possession, but they didn’t do too much with it. And it’s not like we didn’t deserve the win. It’s not like we have come here and just nicked a goal.”
Kennedy’s strike was his first in two spells at the club and it was wonderfully worked after Danny Armstrong’s excellent reverse pass met his bursting run into the box.
The attacker kept his cool to find the net, but smiled: “I had no idea what to do when I was running through. I thought Danny was going to shoot because you know what he is like, but he slid me in. I tried to lift it and Joe Hart got his hand on it, but it snuck in. It doesn’t matter!”
Kilmarnock took the honour of being the first side to defeat Celtic in the Premiership this season and it added to their success over Brendan Rodgers’ side earlier in the campaign in the Viaplay Cup. Kennedy believes the latest display was the more impressive of the pair of memorable wins and said: “I think we played better than we did the last time when we beat them.
“I think we deserved it more than we did last time, because the last time we just defended a lot. It’s obviously a massive win and it’s even bigger because it’s Celtic, but it doesn’t matter who we play, it’s only three points and that’s the way you have to look at it. Livingston next week is only three points too. The points are the same.
“We just need to believe in ourselves. The manager tried to put across to us before the game that we had beaten them before and they don’t like coming here, that we are entitled to go and try to win the game. We have done that.”
After Kennedy’s special strike, Killie had to survive eight minutes of injury time to get it over the line. But the matchwinner said: “We felt comfortable because the gaffer has worked on shape and we limited them to not too many chances.
“But you need to stay on your runners because even though Celtic are not at their best, they have so many good players that they could get a goal from anywhere.”
At full-time, there was an explosion of joy from the home stands at Rugby Park. The supporters were jubilant and the delighted manager went around all of his squad to dish out congratulations.
Kennedy admits Celtic will be having nightmares about their next trip to Rugby Park as he said: “Well they’ve not enjoyed coming this season because we have beaten them twice. They battered us when we went away, but I am assuming they don’t enjoy it here because we make it difficult for them.”
Asked about how highly he ranked the win during his time at Killie, Kennedy added: “It’s up there. It’s good. The whole club enjoyed that. You have to understand how good Celtic are and to beat the leaders is always brilliant.”
