Aberdeen 2 Kilmarnock 0: Instant reaction as another red proves costly

Brad Lyons was sent off in the second half as Killie's poor start to the season domestically continued.

Kilmarnock remain without a domestic win since they defeated St Mirren in mid-May to seal fourth spot last season.

Aberdeen ran out comfortable 2-0 winners as Killie had yet another man sent off - their third in three domestic matches.

Here is our instant reaction to the burning issues…

Worst start in a long time

Killie have endured their worst start to a Scottish Premiership campaign since the 2017/18 season when they also lost their first three games. The Rugby Park side has just one win from their nine competitive matches so far this term, which came in Europe. They’re rooted firmly to the bottom of the table after three league defeats on the bounce to Celtic, St Johnstone and the Dons – all of which have been without reply. Of course, there are completely legitimate mitigating factors for these poor results with the rigours of Europe causing serious problems for Killie’s resolve and testing the strength of the squad. However, the distinct lack of goal threat and the manner of the defending is rightfully cause for concern. The things this group of players were so good at last season aren’t showing domestically at least, and that’ll need to be addressed as a matter of urgency, Europa Conference League or not.

Ill discipline is killing the team

This was an issue last week, and it’s now become even bigger for Derek McInnes. Another game, another red card. That’s three red cards in the last three domestic matches for Ayrshire’s blue & white, which is quite frankly unacceptable at this level of football. This week the offender was Brad Lyons, following on from Joe Wright – who was suspended today because of his two ridiculous yellows against St Johnstone – and Stuart Findlay in the League Cup versus Motherwell. All three players are what you’d regard as senior pros, which makes the lack of discipline even more maddening. This was a different situation as Killie’s captain for the day – in the absence of the injured Kyle Vassell – was shown a straight red by referee Matthew MacDermid. He took a poor first touch before flying into a tackle on Ester Sokler at speed. While Lyons didn’t hit him with two feet, the foot that he jumped in with appeared to catch the striker above his ankle, presumably meeting the criteria for endangering the safety of an opponent. The original decision was yellow, but VAR Graeme Stewart quickly advised McDermid to review the incident at Pittodrie’s pitch-side monitor. The foul was upgraded to a sending-off, making an already difficult game virtually impossible to recover. Things are tough enough right now for the team given the hectic schedule of balancing normal fixture commitments with European qualifiers without (usually) reliable players needlessly selling jerseys. Killie only had five reds in all of last season, so the players need to get back to keeping the heid.