Chester 0 - 1 Kilmarnock: Killie toil to victory

Published on 22/07/2012 03:06

Kilmarnock, unconvincing so far in pre-season, left it late to beat Conference North side Chester at Exacta Stadium yesterday.

The Rugby Park side, who crashed to heavy defeats against Morton and Wrexham last week, once again looked ragged until Matthew Kennedy scored the winner with 16 minutes left.

After seeing Chester’s Matty McGinn hit the post in seven minutes, the SPL side should have gone ahead after 15 minutes but Danny Racchi prodded Rory McKeown’s cross wide.

At the other end, Kilmarnock keeper Annsi Jaakola had to tip away a curling shot from McGinn and just before the break, Chester’s Marc Williams hit the post from close range before seeing his effort from the rebound cleared off the line by Garry Hay.

Killie improved after making changes at the interval, and substitute quartet Gary Harkins, Rory Boulding, Jeroen Tesselaar and Liam Kelly all had chances.

After a late tackle from Kelly almost sparked a 20-man brawl, Killie eventually made the breakthrough when young Kennedy pinged in a low strike from the edge of the box.