Kilmarnock ensured Premiership status for another season with an eventful 3-2 win over Dundee at Rugby Park.
Attacker Danny Armstrong scored from the spot in the 31st minute to put the hosts ahead, but Dens Park midfielder Lyall Cameron levelled with 15 minutes remaining.
Bruce Anderson restored the Killie’s lead a minute later and defender Robbie Deas headed in a third in stoppage time, but Cameron drove in his second soon after to ensure a nervous final minutes for the home fans, with the win ensuring they finished safe from a relegation play-off spot.
Robbie Deas (right) celebrates scoring Kilmarnock’s third against Dundee
With two fixtures remaining, Dundee are in 10th place, two points ahead of Ross County and five ahead of bottom side St Johnstone, and their fight for survival goes on.
Killie went into the game on good form, having won three of their past four in the league, and Dundee keeper Trevor Carson soon had to make a crucial save from Deas’s header from a corner.
Anderson then missed a gilt-edged chance for the Ayrshire outfit in the seventh minute after good work from wing-back Corrie Ndaba to set him up, the Kilmarnock striker scuffing his shot from eight yards past the post.
At the other end, home goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara made a good diving save from Simon Murray’s long-distant effort.
The hustle and bustle between two evenly matched sides continued before Killie midfielder Liam Donnelly crumpled under from a challenge from Dundee’s Sebastian Palmer-Houlden as they contested a deep cross into the box, and referee Don Robertson pointed to the spot.
A VAR check confirmed the decision and Armstrong thrashed the penalty high into the net for his third goal in four games, giving Derek McInnes’s men the interval edge.
The home side started the second half by pressing Dundee into some desperate defending, although Ndaba let them off in the 50th minute when he slashed a shot from 10 yards wide of the target after being neatly set up by Fraser Murray.
In the 57th minute, Killie captain Stuart Findlay got on the end of an inviting Murray free-kick but somehow glanced his header wide from six yards.
Dundee then began to work themselves back into the game, and in the 65th minute there was a VAR check for a penalty after Murray claimed Killie substitute Kyle Vassell, on the park just moments as replacement for Bobby Wales, pushed him inside the Kilmarnock box.
Robertson, who initially ignored the claim, was sent to look at his pitchside monitor before he waved play on.
However, Dundee fought level when substitute Oluwaseun Adewumi disrupted the home defence and Cameron latched on to the loose ball to force it past O’Hara and over the line.
The travelling fans were still in celebratory mode when the unmarked Anderson made up for his early miss by bulleting in a header from Donnelly’s cross, leaving the Taysiders deflated.
As Dundee drove forward leaving gaps, Carson made fine saves from Kilmarnock substitutes Liam Polworth, Rory McKenzie and Vassell before a third goal came from the head of Deas from an Armstrong corner.
Cameron fired in his second in the fifth of nine added minutes from just outside the box to give Dundee hope but Killie held out to ensure safety.
What the managers said…
Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes: “I’m just delighted we’ve managed to get a real highlight today.
“I loved seeing how the players responded to the supporters. It was bathing in sunshine out there.
“We’ve put the fans through the wringer a wee bit in the last few weeks, but you could see the relief clearly from the stands.
“I think there was also a bit of pride in the performance as well.
“We got three goals and we could have scored more and it was a good day for us. We needed a day like that today.”
Dundee boss Tony Docherty was left confused by a VAR incident which involved a possible penalty at 1-0 when striker Simon Murray was pushed to the ground by Kilmarnock substitute Kyle Vassell.
He said: “I’ve just been seen speaking to referee Don Robertson himself and he couldn’t clear it up for me. And there’s still confusion 15, 20 minutes after the game as to exactly what happened.
“The explanation to me was that the referee was called over by VAR and the sequence they went through was to first check if it was onside.
“It was onside, and then the decision made was that it was outside the box. But they never showed the referee an image. I don’t know if it was to do with technology.
“I’ve watched the image and it’s inside the box and by the letter of the law it’s a penalty kick. I don’t want to be the manager that comes in every week and talks about referee decisions, but it’s for the betterment of the game.
“The game gets stopped, the referee gets called across because VAR indicated there may be an error, but then they don’t show him an image. And I could tell from my conversation with the referee, he’s not comfortable with that either.”
