Only a late equaliser for St
Mirren at Falkirk prevented Kilmarnock from falling bottom of the SPL but
Falkirk joined them on 29 points with the pair's final-day meeting looking
set to be a relegation decider.
Kilmarnock were undermined by
nerves in the second half as they fell to their ninth defeat in 10 SPL
games and now travel to Aberdeen on Wednesday with a terrible away
goalscoring record of four goals in 18 matches.
Kilmarnock started industriously,
but could not seriously test the Saints' keeper.
Chris Millar curled wide on a
rare St Johnstone attack but Killie were making good progress down the
right and Jamie Hamill's low cross was sliced just past his own near post
by Danny Grainger.
Iain Brines waved
away penalty claims when the ball appeared to hit Duberry's arm after
Kevin Kyle had headed on a long throw.
Kilmarnock were in danger of
losing their initiative, but Wright threw himself at Kyle's flick-on to
divert it into the bottom corner and give the home side the lead.
It didn't take long for Killie to
concede, as Samuel kept the ball in play near the corner flag and laid the
ball back for Murray Davidson to curl a cross to the far post where
Deuchar headed in.
St Johnstone had strong claims
for a second-half penalty when Craig went down as he cut in front of Liam
Kelly, with the Kilmarnock midfielder looking relieved when the referee
waved play on.
The hosts became more nervous as
St Johnstone dominated possession and Bell spilled Craig's shot from just
inside the box before recovering.
Kilmarnock eventually fell behind
in the 75th minute when Davidson won Millar's cross and forced the ball
into the path of Samuel, who took one touch before volleying the ball into
the corner off the hands of Bell.
The hosts pushed forward and
Hamill was booked for a penalty-box dive, but Killie's pressure petered
out as Saints harried them out of possession.
Sandy's Match Pic's are
HERE
38
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