Kilmarnock 0 Hibernian 2

Last updated : 24 January 2004 By Footymad Previewer

Kilmarnock failed to ease their relegation fears at the wrong end of the SPL table when they crashed to a 2-0 defeat at home to Hibernian.

All the action in a tight first half came in the opening 15 minutes. Hibs had the ball in the net in the second minute but Colin Murdock was adjudged to have challenged unfairly for Derek Riordan's corner.

Colin Nish had a glorious chance to put Killie in front in the ninth minute following good work from Gary McSwegan and James Fowler, but the lanky striker completely missed his kick six yards out with the goal gaping.

Riordan had a great chance to open the scoring a minute later. Freddy Dindeleux was short with a headed back-pass. Killie keeper Francois Dubourdeau was stranded outside his area as Riordan skipped past him, only for Dindeleux to recover and clear off his line.

Kilmarnock rallied and again Nish had a chance to score. This time, a mix-up between Mathias Doumbe and Colin Murdock allowed Gary McDonald to latch on to the loose ball and nod on for Nish whose weak shot beat Daniel Andersson, but could not curl back enough and rebounded off the face of the post.

From the resultant corner, Barry McLaughlin saw his header cleared off the line by Kevin Nicol.

Hibs stunned the home side with two goals in a minute at the start of the second half.

Poor defending allowed Gary Smith's floated free-kick to land at Scott Brown's feet. He shrugged off the challenge of James Fowler to score in off the near post.

Then, Steve Fulton lost possession deep in his own half to let Riordan power into the home box. He squared to the unmarked Gary O'Connor who powered a shot through the keeper and into the far corner.

Illie made a triple substitution and introduced Eric Skora, but it was fellow sub Kris Boyd who came closest to bringing his side back into the match, his scorching free-kick well parried by Andersson in the Hibs goal.