Kilmarnock 0 Raith Rovers 0 (4-2 pens)

Kilmarnock claimed a bonus point victory over Raith Rovers this evening to start the Premier Sports Cup group stage in bright fashion.

Penalty kicks were needed to split the two teams, who put in a good shift in warm conditions at Auchinleck’s Beechwood Park while still in the early stages of preparing for the league season commencing at the beginning of August.

In the glorious Ayrshire sunshine, the hosts showed their attacking intent from the off as Nicky Cleșcenco former Killie player Millen into Cumnock with an outstanding touch and turn to get away from his marker and win an early corner.

Greg Kiltie came close on two occasions in quick succession for Neil McCann’s side. The captain clipped the crossbar with a floated free kick to the back post, then a minute later he flashed an effort narrowly wide after latching onto a beautiful pass in-behind Raith’s defence by Jamie Brandon.

As the visitors looked to build their way into the match, Robertson had a shot from distance comfortably held by Max Stryjek around the half-hour mark.

Joe Hugill was denied the opening goal on 43 minutes when he met a knock on by attacking partner Tyreece John-Jules first time from the edge of the box. Rae was equal to it though, pulling off a terrific save to keep the scoreline goalless at the interval.

It was the visitors who came closest to scoring in the second-half around 56 minutes. A delightful ball was dinked into the six-yard box for Vaughan, his header was bound to nestle in the back post, but Stryjek did brilliantly to divert the ball onto the post before gathering at the second attempt. Shortly after, Robertson flashed a shot wide of the post when he ought to have hit the target after decent build-up play by Easton and Telfer.

Michael Schjønning-Larsen received the ball after Tom Lowery showed good composure in the centre of the park to pick out the left-back bombing up the wing. He swanned his way into the box, jinking one way before going the other, but he failed to get a clean connection on his attempt.

Half-time substitute Roshaun Mathurin saw his effort just miss the target on 72 minutes too. The attacker was played in after some tremendous link-up play by Hugill and Kiltie. Jack Thomson then had a shot on target parried by the keeper.

In the end, the sides couldn’t be separated despite Ieuan Owen making a positive impact off the bench, and so it ended a draw with penalties required to decide who claimed the bonus point.

Stryjek produced two big stops to cancel out Hugill’s saved attempt, as Thomson, Erik Ring, Owen and Mathurin found the net for the hosts to end the first competitive game of the 2026/27 season on a high.

Crowd: 1,441.

Team: Stryjek, Brandon (Ring, 45’), Deas, Hugill, John-Jules (Owen, 76’), Kiltie (O’Hara, 76’), Stanger, Lowery, Cleșcenco (Mathurin, 45’), Schjønning-Larsen, Thomson.

Unused subs: Ferrie, McKenzie, Brown, Bowie, Rice.