Scottish Premiership: Kilmarnock draw 1-1 with Rangers

By Andy Swales

Saturday 27 August 2016 09:59, UK

James Tavernier netted a brilliant free-kick to earn Rangers a 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership on Friday.

The defender's second-half strike took the visitors two points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, although Celtic in second spot have two games in hand on their Old Firm rivals.

During a bright opening to the contest on the plastic pitch, Kenny Miller fired an early shot into the side-netting while, at the other end, Gary Dickers went close for Killie in the 12th minute.

However, the rest of the first half belonged to the hosts with former Gers' forward Kris Boyd deservedly opening the scoring for Kilmarnock in the 29th minute.

The 33-year-old veteran latched on to Greg Kiltie's pass, before cutting in from the left and unleashing a fierce low drive into the far corner of the net which gave visiting keeper Wes Foderingham no chance.

The hosts continued to dominate and should have been further ahead by the time Rangers levelled matters against the run of play.

With 58 minutes on the clock, Tavernier curled home a brilliant equaliser from 30 yards, as he located the top left-hand corner of the net with a superb free-kick.

And just minutes later, Kilmarnock were reduced to 10 men when teenager Greg Taylor was shown a red card by referee Kevin Clancy for a terrible tackle on Joey Barton.

However, Killie remained positive with Adam Frizzell firing over from 20 yards on 68 minutes.

But as Rangers chased three points, Tavernier almost netted his second free-kick of the evening, only to be denied by a diving Jamie MacDonald who diverted the ball away for a corner.

Dean Hawkshaw missed a decent chance for Killie three minutes from time, while Harry Forrester fired over for Rangers deep into added time.