Motherwell were defeated by two-goals to nil after an inexplicable red card decision left the Steelmen playing with ten-men throughout most of the 90-minutes.
Fraser Murray broke the deadlock 22-minutes into the contest, pouncing onto a loose ball in the Motherwell penalty area after an excellent stop from Ellery Balcombe initially denied Bobby Wales the opener.
Motherwell’s frustrations only mounted, as VAR incredibly instructed referee Matthew McDermid to take a closer look at Kofi Balmer’s clearance. Unbelievably, McDermid reversed his initially correct decision, giving Balmer his marching orders for a perfectly-timed clearance.
Motherwell toiled in the Ayrshire sunshine, but with the one-man disadvantage, Motherwell’s high-intensity pressing tactic proved challenging to implement. Eight-minutes into the second-half, Killie doubled their advantage after Joe Wright powered home Danny Armstrong’s delivery across the face of goal.
The visitors were then initially reduced to nine-men after McDermid brandished a red card to defender Dominic Thompson after the Motherwell full-back himself was fouled by Armstrong at the edge of the pitch. VAR quickly intervened, and on this occasion reached the correct decision to overturn the initial red card.
Motherwell’s top-six hopes will remain unchanged if results elsewhere are favourable tomorrow, and could come down to a final-day clash between fellow top-six rivals hearts at Fir Park.
