Kilmarnock ended a run of six games without a win thanks to a Herculean effort against Hearts as they played 84 minutes with 10 men.
Robbie Deas was the culprit as his rash challenge on Kenneth Vargas saw him ordered off after just six minutes. But that didn’t stop Killie picking up the points and jumping three places in the Premiership table as Bruce Anderson slotted home the game’s only goal on 18 minutes from the penalty spot.
Despite being a man light, the hosts looked the most threatening for large spells with Craig Gordon producing a couple of smart saves to deny Killie a second, while a strong defensive display limited Hearts to little.
With Killie looking to pick up a first win in seven, gaffer Derek McInnes elected to hand a first league start of the season to teenage striker Bobby Wales after the 19-year-old had impressed coming off the bench in recent weeks. Robby McCrorie, who went off injured in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Dundee United, retained his place in goal. Influential winger Matty Kennedy failed a fitness test after missing a month with a back injury but has returned to training.
Things got off to an inauspicious start for the hosts as McCrorie failed to collect a corner, with Musa Drammeh hitting the woodwork from a tight angle at the back post.
Killie’s shaky start went from bad to worse as their horrendous discipline problem reared its ugly head just four minutes into the clash as Deas clattered into Vargas. Don Robertson initially showed a yellow card, before overturning that and ordering-off the centre-back – Killie’s seventh red card of the season.
Wales was the unfortunate one subbed off for David Watson as McInnes was forced into an early reshuffle.
But despite going a man down, the hosts looked threatening every time they went up the park and were rewarded on 18 minutes when Joe Wright snuck in ahead of the unsuspecting James Penrice, with the full-back clipping the defender inside the box. Up stepped Anderson who duly sent Gordon the wrong way for his fifth goal of the season.
A wonderful save from Gordon stopped the lead being doubled just shy of the half hour mark when Liam Polworth won the ball back after giving it away 30 yards out and produced a defence-splitting pass for Marley Watkins to run on to only for the Scotland keeper to come charging from goal and thwart the striker.
Killie looked like the team with the numerical advantage as Hearts laboured while the hosts launched a series of counter-attacks. Fraser Murray charged down the left wing as Killie had a tow-on-one advantage but the away side were able to get enough bodies back to repel the danger as the ball into the box was cleared away.
Having seen out the opening half, McInnes elected to shuffle the pack once more at the interval with goalscorer Anderson sacrified for a midfielder with Liam Donnelly coming on. There was also a change in goal with McCrorie having to make way for Kieran O’Hara.
They started the second half just as they ended the first, too, with Gordon being forced into a smart save to keep the deficit at a single goal. Brad Lyons charged forward before teeing up Watson, with the teenager’s angled drive having Gordon at full stretch to palm away while Donnelly’s deflected strike rolled narrowly past the woodwork.
Neil Critchley rolled the dice early doors with a double switch at half-time then the introduction of both Liam Boyce and James Wilson just eight minutes after the restart but Killie remained a sturdy outfit at the back as the men from the capital struggled to break them down.
When they did have a chance at goal, it was through an error from the hosts as Donnelly had the ball pipped from him by Cammy Devlin on the goaline as he looked to shepherd it out of play with Lewis Mayo on hand to provide the crucial block to deny Wilson.
Penrice looked to make amends for coughing up the penalty but saw his curling effort palmed away as the game ticked into the final 15 minutes.
Hearts, finally, began to look a genuine threat in the closing stages with Jorge Grant going close as his header from an enticing Yan Dhanda free-kick but Killie continued to defend manfully. Dhanda almost stole a point in the closing seconds with a wonderful curling effort that clattered off the crossbar but Killie were able to hold on.
Kilmarnock: McCrorie (O’Hara 45); Wright, Mayo, Deas, Ndaba; Polworth, Lyons, Murray; Anderson (Donnelly 45; McKenzie 83), Watkins (Cameron 70), Wales (Watson 11). Subs not used: Burroughs, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven, Burke.
Goal: Anderson (18 pen)
Red card: Deas (6)
Hearts: Gordon; Oyegoke (Forrester 85), Halkett, Rowles, Penrice; Devlin, Boateng (Grant 45); Drammeh, Spittal (Boyce 53), Forrest (Dhanda 45); Vargas (Wilson 53). Subs not used: Clark, Oda, Tait, Salazar