Kilmarnock 1 Hamilton Accies 0

Kilmarnock made it two wins on the bounce to go top of Group H in the Premier Sports Cup.

Greg Kiltie made an instant impact from the bench to score the only goal of the game on 60 minutes at Beechwood Park, as Killie played in Auchinleck once more while the grass, hybrid pitch at BBSP Stadium settles ahead of the Scottish Premiership season in August.

The hosts started in composed and controlled fashion, totally dictating play and possession. It took until 10 minutes until the first chance was carved open, with Bailey Rice playing a terrific through-ball for Erik Ring to chase inside the box. The Swede had made a brilliant run to latch onto the pass but couldn’t quite keep his shot down.

George Stanger came agonisingly close to opening the scoring on 17 minutes when his header from close-range was well-saved onto the crossbar Lyness after an inswinging corner delivery.

Accies showed signs of life shortly after though, with Orsi powering a header high over the bar after a promising attack down the left wing.

Neil McCann didn’t leave it long into the second-half before making changes to his team. Greg Kiltie, Joe Hugill, Roshaun Mathurin and Jack Thomson were all brought on before the hour-mark.

And it didn’t take long for one to make a big difference. Kiltie opened the scoring minutes after entering the field, finding the bottom corner with a cool finish from the edge of the area after winning a second ball when Hamilton looked to clear the danger.

This eased any apprehension around Auchinleck, as Killie – playing in the yellow away kit – settled. Another change was made, which saw Euan Bowie come on for Tyreece John-Jules, as Killie opted for an alteration to the formation. The left-back almost claimed a goal too from the bench, but he couldn’t quite keep his header down from a corner.

It wasn’t all Killie’s way, as Accies pushed for an equaliser as the clock ticked towards full time. Thomson impressed as he continually broke up play and put his body on the line for a third successive clean sheet, with debutant Calum Ferrie also dealing with everything that came his way with relative ease.

McCann’s men held out for another important win though. They now know that a similar result at Peterhead on Sunday will see the team top the group and progress into the last-16 of the competition.

Crowd: 1,343.

Team: Ferrie, O’Hara (Kiltie, 54’), Deas, McKenzie (Mathurin, 58’), Ring, John-Jules (Bowie, 67’), Stanger, Lowery, Schjønning-Larsen, Owen (Hugill, 54’), Rice (Thomson, 58’).

Unused subs: Stryjek, Cleșcenco, Brown, Coughlin.

Booked: Rory McKenzie