Gary Harkins and Kostadin Gadzhalov were in the Dundee Development team which faced Kilmarnock at a sunny Dens Park, but the two experienced pros couldn’t stop their side going down to a slick Kilmarnock outfit.
Despite the closeness of the final scoreline this was a comfortable victory for the visitors.
Dundee started well and, in the opening seconds, Craig Wighton latched on to a through pass. The striker managed to prod the ball past visiting keeper Conor Brennan, but it ran behind for a goal kick.
Home keeper Calum Brodie allowed a passback to run under his foot and had to scramble the ball away, but he quickly made up for that with a string of fine stops to keep his side level.
In the space of ten minutes he tipped over a fierce drive by Killie’s Scott McLean, made a point blank save from Dean Hawkshaw, saved from Greg Taylor, then pulled off another excellent save from David Syme.
But the Dens goalie was finally beaten in the 28th minute when, from a corner on the left, Aaron Splaine scored from close range.
The visitors doubled their advantage nine minutes later when an unmarked Euan Smith headed home from six yards.
Dundee were struggling to make any impact on the game and Lee Cameron was continually frustrated by the linesman’s flag.
The Dark Blues improved after the break and Cameron ran on to a terrific pass from Andy Black but couldn’t control the ball and allowed a Killie defender to clear.
On the hour mark manager Eddie Johnson was sent to the stand after allegedly making remarks to the stand side linesman.
Three minutes later, Dundee made a double substitution, Max Avolio and John Black coming on for Calvin Colquhoun and Cameron.
This re-energised the team somewhat with both Black and Avolio seeing a lot of the ball.
As the Dark Blues tried to get into the game Ben Priest got in a header from a corner but could only direct his effort wide.
Brodie brought off another fine save, this time going down at the feet of Pooler. The keeper would have had no chance minutes later when Hawkshaw somehow managed to put the ball wide of a gaping net.
In added time good work by John Black led to Ryan Gemmell going through on goal but he was upended by Syme who was shown a red card.
Black stepped up to take the penalty and gave Brennan no chance with a raging shot into the top corner.
FT: Dundee 1 Kilmarnock 2
Dundee: Brodie, A Black, Gibb, Gadzhalov, Priest, Harkins, Gemmell, Colquhoun (J Black 63), Skelly, Wighton, Cameron (Avolio 63). Subs not used: Beattie, Warwick, C Black.
Kilmarnock: Brennan, Thomson, Lidington (Dempster 79), Smith, Hodge, Syme, Pooler (Sibbald 81), Splaine, McLean (Whittaker 68), Hawkshaw, Taylor.
Report: Jim Davie
