Kilmarnock 0 Arbroath 1 as home discomforts leave boss Tommy Wright with problems to solve

Tommy Wright picked through the wreckage of Kilmarnock’s latest Rugby Park setback and admitted his side’s dismal home form was costing them in the race for the title.

An 85th minute header from hitman Anton Dowds earned shock troops Arbroath a memorable victory at Rugby Park.

It was a result which moved Dick Campbell’s men to within two points of Kilmarnock who stay top of the cinch Championship but only on goal difference ahead of second-placed Raith Rovers.

Arbroath became the fourth team to waltz into Kilmarnock and leave with three points, following in the footsteps of Partick Thistle, Raith and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

“It’s deja vu isn’t it?,” said Killie boss Wright afterwards. “We’ve not done well at home again and we’ve only ourselves to blame.

“There are big moments in the game. There was a great opportunity for Oli [Shaw] when he was clean through and we had two or three opportunities in the second half.

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“We’re not a big side so we’re always under threat of conceding from a set-play but I do feel at half-time we were sitting pretty comfortably.

“We started the second half slowly. Too many bad passes, not enough people wanting the ball, not enough people taking responsibility.

“We just seem to have this problem at home at times. We just don’t want to be brave enough on the ball and are a little bit tentative. We play too safe. We don’t seem to have that problem away from home.

“I thought the fans were good and got behind the team but we’ve got to do better. I know that and the players certainly know that because we’re making life really difficult for ourselves.

“If we had had good home form, we could have daylight between ourselves and second place. But we don’t have that.”

Wright has some thinking to do but insisted: “Players will have to perform. It’s that simple and I will have to find the right players to play at home.

“You could argue the biggest game we had at home with the biggest pressure was Ayr and they dealt with that fine [2-0 win on the opening day of the league season].

“It’s evident that our home form is costing us.”

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