Scottish Prem: Killie beaten

Kilmarnock manager Lee Cark was sent to the stands by referee Craig Thomson after just 10 minutes at Rugby Park as his team were beaten 2-1 by Motherwell on the opening day of the Scottish Premiership.

Killie had gone into the game hoping to recover from a poor League Cup campaign but were second best as Lionel Ainsworth and Marvin Johnson struck either side of the break to set up the win.

The visitors came close on 13 minutes when Ainsworth used his pace to burst clear on the flank and clipped the ball into Scott McDonald who dragged a volley just past the post.

Johnson then crashed a powerful shot from 25 yards which flew over the bar before Steven Smith sent a free-kick from slightly further out onto the top of the net at the other end of the pitch.

Motherwell took the lead on 41 minutes when Ainsworth collected the ball just inside the Killie half and exchanged passes with McDonald before lofting the ball over the advancing Jamie MacDonald from just inside the box.

Killie survived another scare two minutes later when Johnson burst clear and sent his shot narrowly wide of the target.

But a minute after the break Johnson made no mistake when he headed superbly into the net from a Richard Tait delivery.

Killie continued to battle though and Craig …

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