Kilmarnock and Dundee United play out draw

Kilmarnock and Dundee United shared the spoils after an arduous 1-1 draw in Saturday’s evening kick-off in the Scottish Premiership.

It was the tale of two penalties with Max Watters missing from the spot for United early on before Bruce Anderson converted for the hosts on 33 minutes.

Craig Sibbald, however, equalised for the visitors with a smart finish just after the hour mark as Jim Goodwin’s men salvaged a point to maintain seventh place in the league table.

Both managers entered the fixture under significant pressure with Kilmarnock defeated in their previous six top-flight games, while Dundee United had just one win in seven league encounters.

The lack of confidence in both teams was evident during an uneventful opening 10 minutes, until the momentum of the game changed when Matthew MacDermind awarded the visitors a penalty on 13 minutes.

Despite an unnecessarily long VAR check, McDermind’s original decision was correctly supported by the additional officials after Ethan Schlite Brown clumsily barged into the back of Krisztian Kerestez.

Max Watters stepped up confidently but his spot-kick was expertly saved by Tobi Oluwayemi. The Celtic loanee dived to his left and clawed away Watters’ attempt to the delight of an anxious home support.

Dundee United were in the ascendancy in the opening twenty minutes and Will Ferry went close on 20 minutes when his curling effort sailed over the bar.

Kilmarnock offered almost nothing as an attacking threat until they were awarded a penalty just after the hour mark. After previously winning a spot-kick at the other end, Kerestez was harshly adjudged to have pushed Marley Watkins.

It appeared dubious but VAR backed up MacDermind’s original decision. United keeper Dave Richards saved Anderson’s initial tame effort but the Killie striker slammed home the rebound to give the hosts the lead.

Kilmarnock thought they’d doubled their advantage just two minutes later when Scott Tiffoney nodded home from close range but Watkins was penalised for a foul on the United goalkeeper.

Neither side offered an attacking threat for the remainder of the first half with Anderson’s snapshot on 45 minutes the only half-chance of note.

There wasn’t a notable goalscoring opportunity during the opening 15 minutes of the second half until Dundee United levelled on 63 minutes.

A well-worked move resulted in Zac Samford’s cross ending up with Sibbald arrowing a composed finish into the bottom corner.

United were energised by their equaliser and gained momentum with Pantuche Camara excellent but they failed to truly test Oluwayemi in the Kilmarnock goal.

Nikoaj Moller’s flicked effort from Ivan Dochek’s cross on 80 minutes was easily collected by Oluwayemi before Killie almost snatched all three points when Dominic Thompson’s free-kick flew just wide and both sides appeared completely content with a draw.