Strugglers Livingston and Kilmarnock performed out a 1-1 draw on the House of the Set Fare Enviornment.
The William Hill Premiership’s backside two sides each went into the conflict in horrible type, with Livi having not received in 19 top-flight fixtures whereas Eleventh-placed Killie have been with out a victory in 14.
Connor McLennan put the Lions in entrance on the stroke of half-time however Marcus Dackers’ Seventieth-minute equaliser secured a draw for Killie in supervisor Neil McCann’s first sport in cost.
Issues received off to an inauspicious begin for the West Lothian hosts with Brooklyn Kabongolo choosing up an early reserving and being lucky to not obtain one other earlier than being changed by Danny Wilson after simply 10 minutes.
With the hosts struggling to settle into the competition, Kilmarnock regarded to get on the entrance foot early doorways. Nonetheless, regardless of having fun with loads of the play, the away aspect have been unable to threaten Jerome Prior within the Livingston objective.
Livingston created the sport’s first likelihood of notice which arrived on 33 minutes as Joshua Brenet did properly down the proper flank earlier than discovering McLennan, though the previous Ayr United man’s effort was properly saved by Tobi Oluwayemi.
That sparked a change in tempo from either side in what had been a predictably cagey affair. Bruce Anderson went near netting in opposition to his former membership after turning Scott Tiffoney’s supply vast as Killie regarded to open the scoring.
Sammy Lawal regarded to offer a second of magic because the Nigerian full-back tried a piledriver from distance that flew narrowly over the bar.
Simply because the half-time whistle was on account of blow, the Lions struck. Macaulay Tait was present in acres of area and the midfielder charged on the Killie backline earlier than rolling the ball throughout the face of objective for McLennan to show residence.
That supplied an enormous momentum shift in favour of the hosts, who got here out energised after the interval as they regarded to double their benefit.
Tete Yengi got here near doing simply that when he outmuscled Ethan Brown solely to see his strike bounce again off the crossbar.
Having beforehand been a close to complete bystander, Prior was known as into motion two minutes later as he clawed away a Brad Lyons header with the Killie skipper trying to drag his aspect degree.
He was unable to stop substitute Dackers from levelling issues up on 70 minutes, nonetheless, because the striker prodded the ball over the road on the second try and bag his first objective since October.
Either side went trying to find a late winner, understanding the significance of all three factors. Lewis Smith examined Oluwayemi after slicing in from Livi’s proper whereas Prior received his fingertips to a fizzing Dom Thompson effort from 30 yards.
The hosts handed debuts to each Scott Arfield and Estonian striker Alex Tamm with 12 minutes remaining, with the pair each forcing Oluwayemi into saves, however neither aspect was capable of finding a vital late winner.
What the managers stated…
Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann:
“There’s no question in my mind that Kabongolo should’ve been off the pitch. Anybody in this ground today knows he should’ve been off the pitch. Davie Martindale knows that too, that’s why he subbed him.
“The massive fella should not have had that chance to remain on the pitch. I have been instructed the primary one is reckless and deserved a yellow card.
“The second one he’s cleaned out our player running right through on a promising attack. I don’t know how promising it needs to be to have another yellow card.
“Proper after that he goes by the again once more. I do not perceive how that is not the second yellow. That went in opposition to us. It allowed Davie to make the change.
“Don’s good. We spoke calmly after the game – I wasn’t remonstrating too much in his face. He just felt there wasn’t enough in it to send him off. I completely disagreed with him and he accepted that.”
Livingston boss David Martindale:
“I don’t think the first challenge is a yellow card. I don’t think there is anything in it and it was a really strange booking because Bruce Anderson is going nowhere and the ball was going out the park.
“The second problem, I do not assume was a foul however the third I believed was a yellow card. Based mostly on him already being on a yellow – which I do not agree with – it is a pink card.
“The ref’s put us in that position due to his poor decision-making. Brooklyn shouldn’t have been in that position.
“He ought to have been on the park to clear the ball that got here into our field for his or her objective. That is what he was within the crew for.”
