# 2018–19 Kilmarnock F.C. season

The 2018–19 season was Kilmarnock's sixth season in the Premiership, and their 26th consecutive season in the top flight of Scottish football.

## Overview

Killie, like the previous season, went on a pre-season training camp in La Manga, Spain. On 13 July 2018, manager Steve Clarke said that Youssouf Mulumbu had left Kilmarnock and wasn't expected to return to the club. A Kilmarnock XI took part in two friendly matches. The first was against East Kilbride on 18 July 2018 in which Daniel Higgins scored the only goal of the game to give Killie a 1–0 win. On 22 July 2018, Killie played local junior side Kilwinning Rangers in Ben Lewis's testimonial.
Kilmarnock finished the season in third place - the club's highest league finish since 1966 - and with a record points tally. Eamonn Brophy's 89th-minute penalty secured a 2–1 win over Rangers in the last game of the season to secure third and qualification to the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.
Kilmarnock were seeded for the group stage draw of the League Cup and were drawn to face Premiership rivals St Mirren along with Dumbarton, Queen's Park and Spartans. In their opening fixture, Kilmarnock drew 0–0 with St Mirren and missed out on the opportunity for a bonus point as they lost 3–2 on penalties. They won their subsequent three matches to finish first in Group H. Killie were eliminated in the second round by Rangers.
Kilmarnock entered the fourth round of the Scottish Cup as one of the Premiership clubs, starting on 19 January 2019. After defeating Forfar Athletic, they lost to Rangers in a fifth round replay.

## Results
### Pre-season and friendlies

| Date | Opponents | Venue | Result F–A | Scorers |
| 18 July 2018 | East Kilbride | K-Park Training Academy | 1–0 | Higgins 86' |
| 22 July 2018 | Kilwinning Rangers | Abbey Park | 3–1 | |

### Premiership

| Date | Opponents | H / A | Result F–A | Scorers | Attendance | League position |
| 4 August 2018 | St Johnstone | H | 2–0 | S. Boyd 58', Ndjoli 85' | 4,644 | 4th |
| 11 August 2018 | Livingston | A | 0–0 | | 2,586 | 4th |
| 25 August 2018 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 0–1 | | 6,239 | 6th |
| 1 September 2018 | Aberdeen | A | 2–0 | Brophy 44', Stewart 69' | 14,248 | 3rd |
| 15 September 2018 | Hibernian | A | 2–3 | Brophy 26', Stewart 44' | 17,622 | 7th |
| 23 September 2018 | Celtic | H | 2–1 | Burke 64', Findlay 90+3' | 10,988 | 5th |
| 29 September 2018 | Motherwell | H | 3–1 | Burke 39', Stewart 44', Brophy 59' (pen.) | 5,090 | 3rd |
| 6 October 2018 | Dundee | A | 2–1 | Boyle 17' (o.g.), Brophy 54' (pen.) | 5,158 | 3rd |
| 20 October 2018 | St Mirren | A | 2–1 | Power 56', Tshibola 68' | 5,889 | 3rd |
| 27 October 2018 | Hamilton Academical | H | 1–1 | McKenzie 44' | 5,023 | 2nd |
| 31 October 2018 | Rangers | A | 1–1 | Stewart 15' | 49,279 | 3rd |
| 4 November 2018 | Aberdeen | H | 1–2 | K. Boyd 32' | 5,270 | 4th |
| 10 November 2018 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–0 | Millen 73' | 17,417 | 4th |
| 24 November 2018 | St Johnstone | A | 0–0 | | 3,559 | 4th |
| 1 December 2018 | Hibernian | H | 3–0 | Brophy 6', 34' (pen.), Stewart 90' | 6,036 | 2nd |
| 5 December 2018 | Livingston | H | 2–0 | Stewart 3', 20' | 4,143 | 1st |
| 8 December 2018 | Celtic | A | 1–5 | Brophy 52' (pen.) | 58,457 | 3rd |
| 15 December 2018 | Dundee | H | 3–1 | Broadfoot 54', Kusunga 66' (o.g.), Stewart 79' | 4,668 | 1st |
| 22 December 2018 | Hamilton Academical | A | 1–1 | Brophy 7' | 3,401 | 4th |
| 26 December 2018 | Motherwell | A | 1–0 | Jones 40' | 5,426 | 3rd |
| 29 December 2018 | St Mirren | H | 2–1 | Findlay 4', Jones 11' | 7,131 | 3rd |
| 23 January 2019 | Rangers | H | 2–1 | Brophy 22', Jones 66' | 12,374 | 2nd |
| 26 January 2019 | Aberdeen | A | 0–0 | | 15,560 | 2nd |
| 1 February 2019 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 1–2 | Jones 45+1' | 5,552 | 3rd |
| 6 February 2019 | Dundee | A | 2–2 | McAleny 18', Burke 54' | 4,694 | 4th |
| 17 February 2019 | Celtic | H | 0–1 | | 11,916 | 4th |
| 23 February 2019 | Livingston | A | 0–1 | | 2,569 | 4th |
| 27 February 2019 | Motherwell | H | 0–0 | Abandoned | Abandoned | Abandoned |
| 2 March 2019 | Motherwell | H | 0–0 | | 6,215 | 4th |
| 11 March 2019 | St Mirren | A | 1–0 | Millar 87' | 4,458 | 4th |
| 16 March 2019 | Rangers | A | 1–1 | McAleny 29' | 49,527 | 4th |
| 30 March 2019 | Hamilton Academical | H | 5–0 | Taylor 5', McAleny 56', Mulumbu 63', Burke 84', Ndjoli 90+2' | 4,762 | 3rd |
| 3 April 2019 | Hibernian | A | 0–0 | | 16,588 | 3rd |
| 6 April 2019 | St Johnstone | H | 2–0 | Kane 17' (o.g.), K. Boyd 43' (pen.) | 4,685 | 3rd |
| 20 April 2019 | Aberdeen | H | 0–1 | | 6,531 | 4th |
| 27 April 2019 | Celtic | A | 0–1 | | 58,851 | 4th |
| 4 May 2019 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–0 | Findlay 86' | 17,103 | 3rd |
| 11 May 2019 | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | Brophy 32' (pen.) | 7,484 | 3rd |
| 19 May 2019 | Rangers | H | 2–1 | Burke 9', Brophy 89' (pen.) | 12,248 | 3rd |

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponents | H / A | Result F–A | Scorers | Attendance |
| 19 January 2019 | Fourth round | Forfar Athletic | H | 2–0 | Findlay 19', Burke 78' | 4,376 |
| 9 February 2019 | Fifth round | Rangers | H | 0–0 | | 11,430 |
| 20 February 2019 | Fifth round replay | Rangers | A | 0–5 | | 37,918 |

### League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponents | H / A | Result F–A | Scorers | Attendance |
| 13 July 2018 | Group stage | St Mirren | H | 0–0 (2–3p) | | 4,026 |
| 21 July 2018 | Group stage | Dumbarton | A | 4–2 | Ndjoli 48', K. Boyd 68', 76', 90' | 1,353 |
| 24 July 2018 | Group stage | Spartans | A | 3–0 | Erwin 63', Ndjoli 80', 90' | 1,078 |
| 28 July 2018 | Group stage | Queen's Park | H | 2–0 | Brophy 62', K. Boyd 90+3' | 2,835 |
| 19 August 2018 | Second round | Rangers | H | 1–3 | Barišić 51' (o.g.) | 12,016 |

## Club statistics
### Competition Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Premiership | 4 August 2018 | 19 May 2019 | Matchday 1 | Matchday 38 | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 50 | 31 | +19 | 050.00 |
| Scottish Cup | 19 January 2019 | 20 February 2019 | Fourth round | Fifth round replay | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 033.33 |
| League Cup | 13 July 2018 | 19 August 2018 | Group stage | Second round | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 060.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 46 | 23 | 12 | 11 | 62 | 41 | +21 | 050.00 |
Source: Competitions

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Celtic (C) | 38 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 77 | 20 | +57 | 87 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Rangers | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 82 | 27 | +55 | 78 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Kilmarnock | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 50 | 31 | +19 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 38 | 20 | 7 | 11 | 57 | 44 | +13 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Hibernian | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 54 | |
* ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
* ↑ Since the winners of the 2018–19 Scottish Cup, Celtic, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the Scottish Cup winners (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the fourth-placed team.

### League cup table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Kilmarnock (Q) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 10 | Qualification for the Second round |
| 2 | St Mirren (Q) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 9 | Qualification for the Second round |
| 3 | Dumbarton | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | −7 | 5 | |
| 4 | Queen's Park | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 | |
| 5 | Spartans | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 | |

## Squad statistics

| No. | Pos. | Name | League | League | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline |
| No. | Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | | |
| 1 | GK | Jamie MacDonald | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | Stephen O'Donnell | 37 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Greg Taylor | 36 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 41 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | Jack Byrne | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Alex Bruce | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Kirk Broadfoot | 27 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | MF | Alan Power | 36 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 44 | 1 | 12 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Rory McKenzie | 24 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | Gary Dicker | 35 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | Kris Boyd (c) | 19 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 25 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | Greg Kiltie | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | Jordan Jones | 28 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 35 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | FW | Mikael Ndjoli | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 31 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | Devlin MacKay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | Bright Enobakhare | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | Conor McAleny | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | Scott Boyd | 17 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | Stuart Findlay | 31 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| 18 | DF | Calum Waters | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | Lee Erwin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | Greg Stewart | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | Liam Millar | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | Iain Wilson | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | Adam Frizzell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | Ross Millen | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Dom Thomas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | Youssouf Mulumbu | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | Eamonn Brophy | 29 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 12 | 3 | 0 |
| 26 | GK | Daniel Bachmann | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 27 | MF | Aaron Tshibola | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | Chris Burke | 35 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 42 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
Source:

## Player transfers
### Transfers in

| Date | Position | Name | Previous Club | Fee |
| 4 July 2018 | FW | Mikael Ndjoli | Bournemouth | Loan |
| 13 July 2018 | DF | Ross Millen | Queen’s Park | Free |
| 8 August 2018 | GK | Daniel Bachmann | Watford | Loan |
| 28 August 2018 | FW | Greg Stewart | Birmingham City | Loan |
| 29 August 2018 | MF | Aaron Tshibola | Aston Villa | Loan |
| 31 August 2018 | FW | Bright Enobakhare | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Loan |
| 31 August 2018 | MF | Jack Byrne | Oldham Athletic | Free |
| 28 January 2019 | FW | Conor McAleny | Fleetwood Town | Loan |
| 30 January 2019 | DF | Alex Bruce | Wigan Athletic | Free |
| 31 January 2019 | MF | Youssouf Mulumbu | Celtic | Loan |
| 31 January 2019 | FW | Liam Millar | Liverpool | Loan |

### Transfers out

| Date | Position | Name | Subsequent Club | Fee |
| 30 June 2018 | MF | Youssouf Mulumbu | Celtic | Free |
| 11 June 2018 | GK | Leo Fasan | Falkirk | Free |
| 13 August 2018 | FW | Lee Erwin | Tractor | Free |
| 14 August 2018 | FW | Alex Samizadeh | Curzon Ashton | Free |
| 30 August 2018 | MF | Brad Spencer | Dumbarton | Free |
| 31 August 2018 | MF | Adam Frizzell | Queen of the South | Loan |
| 14 September 2018 | MF | Daniel Higgins | Stranraer | Loan |
| 14 September 2018 | MF | Innes Cameron | Stranraer | Loan |
| 7 December 2018 | MF | Jack Byrne | Shamrock Rovers | Free |
| 29 January 2019 | MF | Iain Wilson | Queen of the South | Loan |
| 30 January 2019 | MF | Greg Kiltie | Greenock Morton | Loan |
| 31 January 2019 | MF | Dominic Thomas | Dumbarton | Loan |