Dundee blew their chance to gain more ground on Kilmarnock in the race for
UEFA Cup places after allowing a two-goal lead to slip away from them with a
jaded second half performance.
An entertaining opening 45 minutes was capped by a superb showing from Fabian
Caballero, who had a hand in goals from Lee Wilkie and Steven Milne.
However, despite having the points within their grasp, Dundee let Kilmarnock
back into the game with some uncharacteristically sloppy defending.
Peter Canero halved Dundee's advantage after 51 minutes when he chased in a
Gary McSwegan shot and knocked home Julian Speroni's weak parry.
The Rugby Park side gained a deserved point with five minutes left when
McSwegan connected with a Stevie Fulton cross to hammer the ball past Speroni
with his left foot.
Dundee have shocked teams with their pace this season and another frantic
start almost saw them take the lead after only 15 seconds when Steve Lovell
powered in a shot from 16-yards.
The Dundee striker had the whole goal to aim at, but chose to fire his shot
towards the near post and although he beat Colin Meldrum in the Killie goal, his
effort smacked off the woodwork and went out for a goal-kick.
Dundee had a solid claim for a penalty turned down by referee Hugh Dallas in
the 30th minute when Chris Innes looked to have handled the ball after Caballero
knocked it past him.
The Dark Blues should have taken the lead after 35 minutes when Caballero's
close control dazzled the Killie rearguard.
The South American burst into the box and beat Greg Shields before picking out
the unmarked Gavin Rae on the penalty spot - but Rae seemed to take his eye off
the ball and it got caught between his feet, allowing Killie to clear.
The opening goal was not far off though and it took only another three minutes
for them to find the net.
Caballero once again beat Shields on the left touchline, but was brought down
by the defender - who was booked by referee Dallas.
From the free-kick, Nemsadze sent a wonderful cross to the back post for
Wilkie, who headed the ball into the net from six yards.
Caballero ended the first half in devastating form and he created the second
goal two minutes later.
He broke down the left once again and sent a cross into the box for Milne, who
was left in plenty of space, to head the ball past the exposed Meldrum.
Kilmarnock started the second half brightly and only had to wait six minutes
before halving the home side's advantage.
Speroni managed to get hand to an effort from McSwegan, but could not knock
the ball far enough away and only succeeded in palming it towards Canero, who
had followed the initial shot in and was left with the easiest of tasks in
knocking it into the empty net.
Dundee should have restored their two-goal advantage after 58 minutes when
Milne sent Rae through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Milne's initial pass hit off a Killie defender's back and slowed the ball
down, giving the Scotland cap the chance to shoot from 18 yards with only the
goalkeeper to beat.
However, as happened in the first half, Rae lacked the composure to knock the
ball into the net and his shot spun wide of the target.
Dundee lost their grip on the three points with only five minutes left when
McSwegan popped up unmarked in the box to draw his side level.
Fulton crossed from the left - injuring himself in the process - and the
former Hearts and Dundee United man was on hand to take advantage of Dundee's
sloppy defending to knock the ball past Speroni with his left foot.
The goal sparked wild scenes of celebration from the Killie bench, but that
was short lived as they discovered Fulton could take no further part in the game
and was replaced by Gary Locke.
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