Kilmarnock got revenge for their Cup defeat
when they reversed Saturday's scoreline against Motherwell last night.
Kris Boyd got the
vital goal with a penalty just nine minutes from time.
But Well
keeper Francois Dubourdeau must be regretting his moment of madness
which led to the spot-kick and cost his side a valuable SPL survival
point.
The Frenchman
needlessly conceded the penalty when he elbowed Killie's Craig Dargo
inside the box when the game looked destined to finish even.
Dubourdeau also earned
himself a red card before Boyd kept his cool to win the game.
It also ended Well's
fine unbeaten run at Rugby Park to four matches.
But both teams were
guilty of failing to do even the simplest of task over a 90 minutes
which produced more mistakes than
moments
to savour.
Kilmarnock were
without the injured Gordon Marshall, Colin Meldrum taking over in goal,
but skipper Freddie Dindeleux returned for the first time in two months
following his knee problems.
Motherwell's talisman
James McFadden started the first game of a four- match ban so the
impressive 17-year-old David Clarkson was given a start, as was recent
signing Steven Craig.
Neither team had been
up to much in the cup tie, so the paying punter was looking for some
more entertainment this time.
The Fir Park men
looked the more likely side early on.
First a Derek Adams
free-kick beat the Killie wall but flew about a yard past and then Keith
Lasley's cross was met by Craig, whose header was a bit too close to
Meldrum.
It took Killie a good
20 minutes to get going and, when they did remove their collective
fingers, it almost produced a goal.
Alan Mahood fed Kris
Boyd who played a superb first-time pass to Craig Dargo who beat the
Well off-side trap but Dubourdeau rushed from his goal just in time to
smother it.
Then good play by
Stevie Fulton allowed Boyd and Dargo to exchange passes but the latter
pulled his drive well wide.
Fulton provided a bit
of invention on 32 minutes when a smart reverse pass to Gary Hay gave
the Killie defender room inside the box to get in a shot, which
Dubourdeau saved.
Hay was obviously keen
to get his name on the scoresheet and four minutes later his fine shot
from 25 yards produced a fine stop again by the Motherwell keeper.
To be brutally honest
the first-half was awful and two Killie fans left to watch the
Arsenal-Liverpool game in the club's hotel. Only a sense of duty stopped
me following them.
Things didn't really
improve after the interval.
But Motherwell came
close to breaking the deadlock on the hour mark when a Lasley shot flew
just wide then 60 seconds later Killie should have scored.
David Cowan and David
Partidge got in each other's way trying to defend a long ball by James
Fowler and allowed Dargo a clear run at goal.
But the little
striker's first touch was awful and he allowed Dubourdeau to collect.
Butcher brought on
Shaun Fagan for Adams in 63 minutes.
It was anyone's game
and you got the feeling that one goal would be enough to win it.
Motherwell nearly did
just that in 70 minutes. Quick thinking from the excellent Scott Leitch
released Pearson with a free-kick and his cut-back across goal was
begging to be knocked home.
Instead, Barry
McLaughlin cleared, but only to Lasley who dragged his shot wide.
With 10 minutes to go,
the game exploded.
Dubourdeau went up for a high ball with Dargo, collected it then, for
some reason, flicked out an elbow which hit the striker's head. It
didn't look a real sore one but Dargo collapsed to the ground. Rowbotham
immediately gave a penalty and the keeper saw red.
Stevie Woods came on
to face Boyd's penalty but the big striker made no mistake.
Kilmarnock: Meldrum, Shields, Dindeleux,
McLaughlin, Fowler, Fulton, Mahood, Dargo (Di Giacomo 89), Hay, Boyd,
McDonald.
Subs Not Used: Stewart, Murray, Canning, Dillon.
Goal: Boyd 81 pen.
Attendance: 4,457
