Kilmarnock 1 Hearts 1

Kilmarnock played out a tense 1-1 draw on home soil against Heart of Midlothian under the lights at BBSP Stadium Rugby Park.

Joe Hugill forced an own goal during the first-half, and Killie held the lead until the final few minutes of the encounter when the Gorgie outfit levelled.

Calum Ferrie came in for his league debut, with Max Stryjek on the end of a hefty challenge, which went totally unpunished, at Easter Road on Tuesday night. Jamie Brandon was also drafted in for the ineligible MJ Kamson-Kamara.

Ferrie had to be alert to deny a quickly taken free kick to prevent Miller from scoring. From the second phase of the resultant corner, the visitors looked to have taken the lead, with Cathal McCarthy turning the ball into his own net. However, a lengthy VAR discovered a handball infringement by a Hearts attacker, and so the goal was chopped off.

This proved to be a pivotal moment, as less than four minutes later the hosts found the net through Hugill, who was so unlucky to have a goal ruled out against Hibs. The pacey frontman was played in-behind with a long looping pass from Michael Schjønning-Larsen. The striker kept his composure to find the bottom corner, albeit with the aid of a deflection, giving Killie a goal advantage on 15 minutes.

Braga came close to levelling for Hearts on 32 minutes after a neat beat of footwork, but his shot looked to have too much power rather than precision. Wilson then had a potshot easily stopped by Ferrie at close-range after more decent build-up play by Braga.

Into the second-half, a lovely set piece routine nearly paid off for the hosts when Bailey Rice zinged a delivery to the back post for Schjønning-Larsen to head back across goal. Erik Ring met the knock back with an ambitious acrobatic effort, but the ball went wide of the target.

Hearts made a triple sub around the hour mark, after their improvement in performance was evident when they had three decent chances in quick succession.

On 79 minutes, the Jambos came very close to equalising when Williams headed over from six-yards out.

They would find the net on 86 minutes when Kingsley latched onto a loose ball inside the box after a period of sustained pressure.

Killie held on well to see out the match, ensuring a point before the three-week international break.

Attendance: 7,352

Team: Ferrie, Brandon, McCarthy, Ring, Hugill, John-Jules (O’Hara, 76’), Kiltie, Stanger, Lowery (McKenzie, 82’), Schjønning-Larsen, Rice (Tshibola, 67’).

Unused subs: Armour, Meier, Cleșcenco, Owen, Burke, Bowie.

Booked: McCarthy, Schjønning-Larsen.