Kilmarnock had to rely on a late own goal from the unfortunate John McQuillan to claim the points against a resilient Dundee United side at Rugby Park.

The goal was tough luck on United's goalkeeper Alan Combe who up until the 80th minute had kept out Killie with a terrific display of goalkeeping.

There was the little for the fans to get excited about for most of the match, with both sides struggling to get the ball into the penalty box.

However the home side always looked the more likely to score and, while they enjoyed most of the position, they found it difficult to break down a rugged United defence.

Paul Wright, starting his first match since last December, was the main threat to the visitors' defence and had a penalty claim turned down by referee Willie Young on 18 minutes when he appeared to be bundled over by Siggi Jonsson, and then shot just wide after a clever pass from Gary Holt.

But the best effort of the first half came when Wright's blistering 20-yard free-kick was turned away by Combe.

United were poor in the final quarter of the field and Gordon Marshall's first-half activity was restricted to dealing with a Jonsson shot from 35 yards.

Killie were also the more forceful outfit in the second half, but could not capitalise on their dominance.

In the 52nd minute Christophe Cocard split the visitors' defence with an incisive pass to Holt.

The Killie midfielder ran clear of the United defence but with only Combe to beat, he drilled his shot wide.

On 67 minutes Combe was the United hero again when he turned away a close-range header from Andy Smith.

The visitors' efforts at goal were few and far between, although substitute Jim Hamilton did manage a header on target, the ball flew high over Marshall's crossbar.

Combe again denied the home side five minutes later when he touched Holt's header over the crossbar.

Then came that dramatic 80th minute winner when McQuillan sliced the ball into his own net after a flick-on by substitute Samassi Abou, Killie's on-loan striker from West Ham.

Teams:

Kilmarnock (0) 1 Dundee Utd (0) 0

Kilmarnock: Marshall, MacPherson, Lauchlan, Dindeleux, Hessey, Cocard, Durrant (Mahood 86), Holt, Reilly, Wright (Abou 75), Smith.

Subs Not Used: Meldrum, Mitchell, Canero.

Booked: Durrant, Lauchlan, MacPherson.

Goals: McQuillan 80 og.

Dundee Utd: Combe, McQuillan, De Vos, Jonsson (Venetis 57), Pascual, Partridge, Thompson, Easton, Hannah, Ferraz (Hamilton 57), Jenkinson (Telesnikov 80).

Subs Not Used: Gallacher, Malpas.

Booked: Pascual, Partridge.

Att: 6,037

Ref: Willie Young (Scotland).