Killie had taken the lead just before the half-hour mark when Gary
McSwegan tucked a penalty past Derek Stillie after Andrius Skerla was
penalised.
But the Pars fought back after the interval and got their reward
through Crawford, who looked like he might have been offside.
Both sides had chances to win the game but could not take them.
The visitors looked sharper in the early stages of the game and
Crawford fired a warning to Killie with a speculative shot from 20 yards
after only four minutes.
Colin Nish, freed by the Pars in the summer, knocked the ball down to
McSwegan moments later, but his weak shot from outside the box gave
Derek Stillie no problems in the Dunfermline goal.
In the 10th minute, McSwegan made Stillie work a little harder to
parry a shot from 14 yards away to safety.
At the other end, Craig Brewster found Crawford with a
perfectly-weighted pass but his angled volley from eight yards was
pushed round the post for a corner by Francois Dubourdeau.
Barry Nicholson's 25-yard volley from Aaron Labonte's corner was
goalbound until Greg
Shields popped up to head the ball off the line to
keep the home side's clean sheet intact.
Killie were awarded a penalty after 28 minutes for a handball by
Skerla as Nish went past him and Gary McSwegan sent Stillie the wrong way
from the spot to put the home side ahead.
Only a saving tackle 10 yards from goal by Gary Mason prevented Gary
McDonald doubling the home side's lead after he had been played in by
Nish.
The Ayrshire men were on top now, but Crawford's turn and shot from
18 yards just before the break almost caught Dubourdeau at his near post
Dunfermline pressed for an equaliser from the start of the second
half and, in the 55th minute, Scott Thomson curled a free-kick from 20
yards past the Kilmarnock wall only to see Francois throw himself to
his left to gather at the second attempt.
Three minutes later, Dubourdeau again foiled the Pars' midfielder on
the goal-line, diving spectacularly to his right to hold his powerful
header from only 10 yards out.
At the other end, Gordon Greer's 20-yard shot forced a great save
from Stillie, which Nish followed up and blasted at the keeper from
close range, only for McDonald to somehow head the rebound over the bar
from six yards out.
The visitors eventually got their equaliser after 63 minutes.
Mason's mis-hit shot from just outside the box came up off the ground
and Crawford, looking suspiciously offside, headed past the flailing
Dubourdeau.
Killie should have regained their lead immediately but McDonald,
played in cleverly by McSwegan, blasted his shot from 14 yards high over
the bar with only Stillie to beat.
In the 79th minute, Killie substitute Danny Invincibile brought out
another good save from Stillie with a powerful shot from 16 yards out
but a draw was a fair result, which means the men from Fife have yet to
win at Rugby Park since 1992.
,
Fowler, Dodds (Invincibile 78 mins), Locke, Fulton, McDonald, McSwegan,
Nish (Boyd 70 min's)
