In the Scottish Premiership title race, Leaders Hearts lost 1-0 to an inspired Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, dropping three valuable points.
Michael Schoening-Larsen scored the only goal of the game as Kilmarnock allayed their fears of relegation and secured a convincing victory in the title race.
Hearts saw Celtic beat Motherwell in the early hours of Saturday to move within two points of the league leaders and know they must pick up maximum points in Ayrshire to regain momentum, with third-placed Rangers traveling to Paisley to face St Mirren on Sunday.
Kilmarnock’s Findlay Curtis (left) and Hearts’ Michael Steinwender (right) in action
Instead, Kilmarnock, who were fit to pick up three points, dealt a serious blow to their survival hopes, with the victory leaving them level on points with St Mirren in 10th place and nine points clear of basement Livingston, who they play next week.
How Hearts lost their third consecutive away game
The visitors started brightly and scored their first goal after just a minute when Claudio Braga met Blair Spital’s cross, but his header was collected by Cale Roos.
Hearts’ Claudio Braga takes a shot against Kilmarnock
But Kilmarnock were undaunted and applied their own pressure from the start. Findlay Curtis’ deflected shot from the edge of the box hit the post and went close to goal.
Braga appeared to be in high spirits and after his volley deflected into the corner, he attempted a nice flick from the pass that went just wide of the post.
At the other end, Curtis posed a threat to the Hearts defence, breaking free from Michael Steinwender and crossing to David Watson, but his blocked shot was weak.
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Michael Schoening-Larsen gives Hearts an early lead against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Kilmarnock took the lead in the 17th minute. Schoening-Larsen reacted to Greg Kilty’s excellent cross, ghosting in at the back post and tapping the ball past Alexander Schworrow.
Hearts looked like they would hit back immediately, but Roos thwarted Braga’s powerful left-footed shot and Tomas Magnusson fired home from the edge of the box.
Kilmarnock were next to threaten, with Schwolow in action twice in quick succession, denying Joe Hugill and then Curtis from range.
Hearts head coach Derek McInnes looks on against Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock started the second half on top and Curtis and Kilty had great chances to double their lead.
Hearts gained a foothold in the game as the first half progressed, but could create little in possession. Spital scored a mid-range shot from Ruth, but their forward attack always broke down near the Kilmar knock box.
Harry Milne managed to get into the area, but instead of turning the ball back to Braga, he chose to fire the ball towards Roos, allowing the hosts to avoid danger.
Hearts’ Claudio Braga appears depressed on full-time
Curtis threatened Schworow again after a stray move, but could not find the target as Hearts held their breath and he never threatened the Kilmarnock goal.
McCann: It was a great performance.
Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann told Sky Sports:
“I can’t say it was a perfect performance, but I think it was a great performance. Hearts were great and we had to come up with a plan to honor the league leaders. Overall, the biggest thing we needed to do to win this game tonight was match Hearts’ work rate and I thought we were as good as them in every way tonight.”
“I feel like we’re encouraging the players to be brave at Rugby Park. I’m very happy to have kept a clean sheet tonight against a scoreless Hearts side. We’re just going to enjoy the win tonight. We haven’t done anything yet apart from getting a nice three points at home. It’s a very difficult game so I’m really proud of the players tonight.”
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Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann was full of praise after defeating leaders Hearts at home to Rugby Park.
On preparing for next weekend’s game against Livingston: “I’m not going to watch the Livingston game tonight and think about how next week’s game is going to be. What I told the guys there is, let’s go out there tonight and enjoy the win.”
“We have to enjoy the win. We’ve been stewing for two weeks after a really bad defeat against Falkirk, which hurt, but tonight they responded brilliantly and bounced back.
“We’re just going to let them enjoy it, let that win permeate into the weekend and get them back on Monday and get ready for Livingston next week.”
McInnes: Hearts go again
Hearts head coach Derek McInnes said on Sky Sports:
“We didn’t try hard enough. I thought we got off to a bad start to the game. Credit to Kilmarnock, they did well. I thought they fought for the win and smashed it.”
“We had a lot more possession, a lot more shots, a lot more territory, but our work tonight was not that convincing and I have to be honest about that.
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Derek McInnes says Hearts were off to a slow start as they lost to a relegation-battling Kilmarnock team.
“I said there would be ups and downs, but we have to take care of our performance. It just looked a little unconvincing for some reason. The pitches here could be difficult and we might be a little nervous.”
“We need to be a little bit more aggressive, we need to be more aggressive, and I don’t think we were aggressive enough in the first half.
“When we wake up tomorrow morning, we’re still at the top of the league and we still have a lot to play for. I don’t think this will be the usual pattern, but we still expect to be in the fight and we’ll be in the fight again.”
What will happen in the Scottish Premiership?
