Dundee 2-3 Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock inflicted just the second league defeat of John Brown's tenure at Dundee, courtesy of three great goals.

The home side had the better of the first half, recovering from the early loss of Rory McKenzie's superb solo finish to go in level thanks to Ryan Conroy's close-range shot.

Chris Johnston put Killie ahead again after the break and Sammy Clingan extended their advantage.

Mark Stewart gave Dundee late hope, but Kilmarnock held on for victory.

The visitors, who move up to eighth in the table, made an ideal start to the match and McKenzie's goal was a thing of beauty, albeit aided by some extremely lax defending.

He ran from the halfway line, past a series of half-hearted challenges, and then placed his shot beyond the diving Steve Simonsen from just inside the box.

Dundee's response was a positive one, with Lewis Toshney screwing a shot wide after a neat interchange with John Baird and Baird himself blazing over from the right of the penalty area.

That positivity eventually brought about the equaliser, with Gary Irvine's desire to get to the bye-line and drive the ball across goal rewarded as Conroy pounced gleefully at the back post to score.

The home side continued to display the type of form that has been their trademark since manager Brown took the helm and twice within a minute could have gone ahead, but on both occasions Gary Harkins was unable to finish.

The second half perhaps lacked the quality and intensity of the first period, but Johnston lit the game up with a wonderful finish to put Killie back in front.

His first shot from just outside the box rebounded off a defender and back into his path and the winger made the most of his second opportunity, curling the ball past Simonsen and in off the post.

Dundee pressed for a second equaliser and almost found it through Kevin McBride, whose powerful drive was pushed over by Bell.

But their hopes of taking anything from the game were all but extinguished by another terrific Kilmarnock goal.

Rabiu Ibrahim showed wonderful poise and balance to escape his marker and lay the ball into the path of Clingan, who curled a beautiful effort beyond Simonsen from 20 yards.

Dundee showed the determination that almost brought about a miraculous escape from relegation to drag themselves back into the game and Stewart lobbed over Bell to give them a glimmer of hope.

But Kilmarnock saw out the closing minutes to claim the victory.