Is Third Time a Charm for Kilmarnock in Belgium?

It’s all finely poised for Kilmarnock and St Mirren after the first legs of their ties. There were no goals for the travelling Buddies to cheer in Iceland, but the home crowd at Rugby Park at least had an equaliser to get excited about.

So it all comes down to the second legs, where winner will take all since away goals don’t matter these days.

First up, Kilmarnock are in Belgium to take on Cercle Brugge where kick off is 7pm oor time. The 1-1 draw from the home leg saw Kilmarnock come from behind thanks to a bit of head pinball between Kyle Vassell and David Watson after Kazeem Olaigbe had given the visitors the lead.

This isn’t the first time Kilmarnock have been in this position in Europe, but they’ll be hoping to improve on the two previous times that happened as they both ended in 2-0 defeats.

The first came against Dinamo Bacau of Romania in the 1969/70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup third round. The second came against Viking of Norway in 2001/02 UEFA Cup first round. No footage of either of these thankfully!

The only other time Kilmarnock drew the first leg at home was a 2-2 against some team called Real Madrid. That came in the European Cup in 1965/66, Kilmarnock being the reigning Scottish champions at the time of course!

Although Killie did lose the second leg in Spain 5-1, it’s a little bit of comfort that Real Madrid went on to win the tournament for a sixth time, an achievement that saw them allowed to keep the trophy – the original smaller European Cup before UEFA changed the style of it to the one we all know and love today.

Fun fact about that. All the marketing for the final the following year in Lisbon has the original shape European Cup on it, despite it being the new shape trophy that Billy McNeill went on to lift that day!

I wouldn’t normally do the wrong leg here, but considering I can’t find the 5-1 nor could I find the other two games I’ve just mentioned so I’m a little short of videos here, let’s do it anyway!

The better news is that Kilmarnock’s two previous visits to Belgium both saw them win – albeit in those consecutive rounds of the 1966/67 Inter-Cities Fairs’ Cup that I mentioned last week.

The second round victory over Antwerp was a straight 1-0 win in the first leg courtesy of Jackie McInally, whilst the La Gantoise win the third round was in the second leg, although the 2-1 final score was after extra time having lost 1-0 in 90 minutes to cancel out the same score from the home leg. McInally and Tommy McLean with the goals in the second half of extra time to take Kilmarnock through to the quarter final. None of these appear to have videos available either though.

As noted last week, Cercle Brugge have never faced a Scottish side before, but it’s worth noting that of their four previous home fixtures in Europe they’ve actually won three of them. Dynamo Dresden in 1985/86 and SK Brann in 1996/97 were both beaten 3-2, whilst Anorthosis Famagusta were beaten 1-0 in 2010/11. Only Turun Paoloseura have won there, winning 1-0. Ironically, that’s also the only tie of the four that Cercle have actually won!

Hopefully Kilmarnock can make it three wins from three over Belgian sides and take their place in the third qualifying round of the Europa League. Should they do that, there’s good a chance they’ll be facing Molde of Norway who lead Silkeborg of Denmark 3-1 from the first leg in Norway. The second leg of that game kicks off at 6.15pm oor time.

There’s also a good chance Kilmarnock are going to Norway regardless of what they do tonight though. Should they lose this tie, then they might end up facing Tromso who lead KuPS 1-0 on aggregate from the first leg in Finland. The second leg in Norway kicks off at 6pm oor time. Either way, Kilmarnock will know who they will be facing by the time their game ends.

What we won’t know by then is how St Mirren are doing. They’re hosting Valur at 7.45pm in Paisley, which is also live on the BBC Scotland channel, with the first leg having been goalless.

The only time St Mirren drew the first leg away from home previously was in their last trip into Europe. The 1987/88 Cup Winners’ Cup second round tie against Mechelen started with a goalless draw in Belgium, only for Mechelen to win 2-0 at Love Street.

The first round tie also had St Mirren draw away to Tromso, but that was in the second leg after winning the first leg 1-0 at home, Kenny McDowall with the crucial goal.

A little recap of the previous St Mirren home ties in Europe, because I did promise them this week. Their first two ties were both goalless at Love Street, games against Elfsborg and St Etienne in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup. Then there was a 1-0 defeat to Feyenoord in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup.

And then there was the 1985/86 UEFA Cup where they beat Slavia Prague 3-0 after extra time, Brian Gallacher levelling the tie to take it to extra time and Frank McGarvey getting both goals in extra time, but then then lost 2-1 to Hammarby, McGarvey getting the St Mirren goal that night.

I’ll just add the video from last week here as it had a mix of home and away, but includes that Slavia Prague game particularly.

Valur’s two previous visits to Scotland have not gone well for them. In 1975/76, Celtic thumped them 7-0 in the Cup Winners’ Cup first round. And when they travelled to Aberdeen in in the 1993/94 Cup Winners’ Cup first round, they were thumped 4-0. That was 9-0 and 7-0 on aggregate if you add it to what was mentioned last week!

Incidentally, Valur have had 0-0 draws at home four previous times, and lost the away leg every time. 8-1 to Benfica in 1968, 2-1 to Portadown in 1974, 3-0 to Boavista in 1993, and 3-1 to Brondby in 2006. Although the last one there had the first leg in Denmark rather than in Iceland like the other three.

If St Mirren can win tonight, it’s no clearer who they’ll face in the next round. Go Ahead Eagles hosted Brann in a goalless draw last week. Brann host Go Ahead Eagles at 6pm oor time so it should be just about finished before kick off in Paisley.

Hopefully we can see two positive results tonight and keep all five Scottish teams in Europe, with Kilmarnock then guaranteed to reach at least a playoff round of some kind if they do so. We need all the coefficient points we can get this season, otherwise this stuff gets a lot harder – and it’s hard enough already!

And of course as well as Kilmarnock for sure and hopefully St Mirren, we’ll have Rangers joining the fray next week. Dynamo Kyiv easily overcame Partizan Belgrade so Rangers will be off to Poland to face them. But we’ll come to that next week, as well as the playoff round draws – including Hearts – that all take place before a ball is kicked in the third round!

But for now, good luck to Kilmarnock and St Mirren!