Kilmarnock 1 Hamilton 0

A stunning stoppage-time free-kick from Alexei Eremenko handed Kilmarnock their first victory in eight Scottish Premiership matches as they defeated Hamilton 1-0 at Rugby Park.

The visitors had the better of the chances in the match, particularly in the first half, although Kilmarnock's struggling forwards also spurned opportunities before substitute Eremenko curled in the winner with the last kick off the ball to give Allan Johnston's side their first win since October.

The game started in an open fashion, with the visitors in particular eager to get the ball down and pass it on Rugby Park's artificial surface. Hamilton manager Alex Neil of all people though was guilty of being slack in possession twice in quick succession early on, presenting a shooting chance to Robbie Muirhead that was blocked by Martin Canning.

Stephen Hendrie's skewed cross then provided a moment of concern for Killie keeper Craig Samson, who was relieved to see the ball drop just over as he backtracked towards his goal-line. Hamilton put together a nice move down the right but Ali Crawford's shot was blocked, and the 23-year-old saw an effort clawed away by Samson soon after.

Hamilton were claiming for a penalty midway through the half when Dougie Imrie went down in the area under the attentions of Mark Connolly, but referee Craig Thomson was not interested and it looked to be the correct decision. Imrie then brought the best save of the match so far from Samson, cutting in from the right to shoot low with his left-foot from around the penalty spot and forcing the busy Killie stopper into a fine one-handed save.

Kilmarnock were struggling to get hold of the ball, and again the visitors' slick passing created a good opportunity for Andreu, who got on the end of McKinnon's cutback but fired straight at Samson. The home side eventually broke out of their half to threaten through Rory McKenzie, and they really should have taken the lead against the run of play after he had shown good pace to drift past Hendrie on the right before pulling his cutback just behind Muirhead when he would have had a simple tap-in.

Hamilton had the ball in the net at the start of the second half after Gillespie sent Mickael Antoine-Curier clear, but the striker was flagged offside well before he finished.

Hamilton had two great chances just before the hour mark, with Crawford's curling effort only being denied by a fine finger-tip save from Samson before the resulting corner saw Michael Devlin have his looping header cleared off the line by Josh Magennis.

The second period was more even than the first, with clear-cut chances becoming scarcer as the match wore on, however with 10 minutes remaining McKinnon missed perhaps the best chance of the game for Hamilton. Crawford swung over a corner and with the Killie defence static McKinnon arrived unmarked but headed wildly over from all of six yards.

Just as it looked as though the game would drift towards a goalless stalemate, Kilmarnock were handed a golden opportunity with a free-kick on the edge of the box and Eremenko did not pass it up, curling in an unstoppable effort to send the home fans wild and clinch a crucial victory.