Stranraer v East Kilbride: Kilby won't practice penalties says Kennedy as club bid to banish play-off demons to win promotion

East Kilbride boss Mick Kennedy says his players won’t practice penalties this week as the club look to bury the demons of their pyramid play-off shootout pain in 2017.

It has been seven years since EK last found themselves in with a proper shot at promotion to League Two and after Saturday’s first leg of the 2024 final ended in a 2-2 draw with Stranraer, Kilby are all square going into the decider, just as they were against Cowdenbeath last time around.

That clash with the Blue Brazil was tied at 0-0 after the first leg before a 1-1 draw in the second leg led to Cowden prevailing 5-3 on penalties during a heartbreaking day in Fife.

This year’s contest with the Blues is also perfectly poised and Kilby may have to go the distance once again, with extra-time and penalties on the cards if the sides can’t be separated at Stair Park.

But Kennedy says brushing up on their spot-kicks won’t be on the agenda for his crop of Kilby players, and he hopes they can get the job done in normal time.

He said: “I’m not really a great believer in practicing penalties because you can never replicate that moment in terms of nerves and tension, so we won’t be prepping for that.

“I think it is all about who feels confident at that moment in time – but hopefully it doesn’t come to that. We’ve got a lot of quality and experience in the group so I wouldn’t be concerned if that’s where we ended up, but we’ll be going down there to win the game. There will be no sitting in or trying to be difficult to play against, we’ll look to impose our style of play on the game, as we always do.”

Kennedy said last week that taking an advantage into the second leg could be key and he was left frustrated that Kilby didn’t turn their first-half dominance into more