Killie boss tickled pink by sammon

Posted Tuesday, August 25, 2009 by PA

Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies praised Conor Sammon for having the confidence to step up and claim his first goal of the season as his double sent Morton crashing out of the Co-operative Insurance Cup following a 3-1 defeat.

The Irishman stepped up to fire Killie into the lead in the second round tie from the penalty spot after being tripped in the box before cancelling out Ryan McGuffie's spot-kick for the Irn-Bru First Division side.

Kevin Kyle - called into the Scotland squad earlier in the day - then put the gloss on the win late on.

Jefferies believes Sammon is now beginning to fulfil the potential he showed when he first arrived at the club.

He said: "He deserved his man of the match award and did well to step up and take the penalty considering he hasn't scored this year.

"I think Jamie Hamill was looking to take it but Conor wanted the ball. He should then have gone on to score a hat-trick.

"He is coming on a lot and is a hugely improved player. He has got the head down and is working his socks off."

He added: "In the first half we should have been three goals up. We should have scored more goals but we need to give Morton credit.

"They came here with nothing to lose and we had to do a professional job. We did that in the end and my only criticism was that we weren't a bit more clinical but I was pleased with the win."

The only sour point of the night was Hamill's withdrawal at the interval after he picked up a knee injury which saw him leave Rugby Park on crutches.

Jefferies said: "It looks like a bad one and he is on crutches at the moment. He will have that assessed.

"We are hoping to avoid too many injuries so we are hoping it's not serious and that it's just a strain rather than ligament damage."

Morton disposed of Hibernian this time last year and, although there were to be no shocks this time, boss Davie Irons had no complaints about the efforts of his players.

He said: "I thought we gave a good account of ourselves and matched them for large periods of the game and had the better opportunities in the second half.

"Their second goal was a massive fluke and their third was irrelevant because we had to go for it by then.

"They are an SPL team and maybe have that little bit extra quality that we don't have but I don't want to take anything away from my players.

"We showed we can play on this stage and that's what we are striving to do."