Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies made three changes to the side
beaten at Inverness last weekend as he looked for a reaction from his
players.
Defender Simon Ford returned to the starting line-up for the first
time in almost two months while Paul Dalglish made his first start for
the club and Scotland Under-21 international Jamie Hamill was promoted
from the bench.
Kilmarnock target Gavin Skelton was in a Gretna side who were seeking
their second win over Jefferies' troops in the Clydesdale Bank Premier
League this season, having won 4-2
at Fir Park in February, in a match where Killie trailed 4-0.
Gretna began brightly and won a corner in the second minute, but Alan
Combe made an easy catch from John Paul Kissock's cross.
Kilmarnock then threatened with an Iain Flannigan free-kick from the
corner of the penalty area but the Gretna defence cleared the danger.
Hamill then looked to set up Danny Invincibile and picked out the
Australian in the box, but the striker could not direct his header on
target.
Killie's Irish defender Tim Clancy was taken off by stretcher after
16 minutes having appeared to catch his studs on the turf. He was
replaced from the bench by Grant Murray.
Flannigan should have put Kilmarnock ahead in the 21st minute when he
failed to net after going clear on goalkeeper Artur Krysiak, having been
set up by Garry Hay.
Kilmarnock had another scoring opportunity after 28 minutes when they
were awarded a free-kick 20 yards out from goal, but Flannigan blasted
the ball high into the stand.
A minute later Invincibile headed Hay's free-kick from the left flank
wide of Krysiak's goal.
Invincibile again came close with a shot which was just off target,
but Gretna were still in the game.
Gretna defender Kyle Naughton almost opened the scoring after 34
minutes when his shot deflected wide of Combe's post.
Krysiak pulled off a good save from David Lilley's header in the 41st
minute to keep the sides level at the break.
Two minutes after the restart it took another good stop from Krysiak
to deny Invincibile from scoring with a close-range header.
Barr put his goalkeeper under pressure with a pass-back after 50
minutes with Krysiak doing well to clear under pressure from Hamill.
With Kilmarnock continuing to push forward, Grant Murray headed
across the Gretna goal but there was no-one in the vicinity to convert
the chance.
But the Ayrshire side eventually broke the deadlock shortly before
the hour mark with a well crafted goal.
Invincibile ran to the line and his cut-back was met by Flannigan,
and when his shot was parried by Krysiak, David Fernandez
was on the spot to fire home the rebound. This
was Killie's first goal in over 350 min's of SPL action.
Invincibile almost doubled Kilmarnock's lead after 65 minutes when he
was only inches away from getting on the end of Flannigan's free-kick.
It was the visitors who were next to net with an equalising goal in
the 74th minute.
Skelton's corner from the right was met by Barr and when his header
came back off the woodwork he was handily placed to fire in the rebound.
Gretna, lifted by their goal and the backing of their 105 fans, made
a late push for a winner against a disappointing Killie side.
But it took a good save by Krysiak in stoppage-time to keep out
Invincibile and deny Killie all 3 points, against a very inexperienced
Gretna side, eight of whom were 21 or under.
56
mins
