Ladbrokes Premiership

ABERDEEN 1

KILMARNOCK 1

OPTIMISTIC Kilmarnock boss Lee McCulloch hopes Saturday's battling draw at Pittodrie marks a turning point in their fortunes.

A goal early in the second half from Jordan Jones ended a run of 13 straight defeats against the Dons and gave them a point against a side still expected to be Celtic's closest challengers for the title.

Now they will look to build on that as they host Dundee on Saturday and bid to get off bottom spot in the league.

McCulloch said afterwards: "That ends the run of 13 straight defeats against Aberdeen. But, when you see the manager they have, the squad they have and the way they play you know it's going to be hard. That makes it a massive point, and will hopefully be the turning point of the season because the boys have been under a lot of pressure. Now we can look forward to showing we do have good players."

The Dons got off to the perfect start when Stevie May netted in 10 minutes to put them ahead.

However, Killie kept battling and three minutes after the break they levelled with a deflected strike from Jordan Jones, who has designs on being selected for the Northern Ireland squad for the World Cup qualifying campaign.

Late on Killie had a great chance to snatch all three points when Stuart Finlay's effort from a Jones corner-kick bounced off the woodwork before home defender Kari Arnason headed the ball clear.

KILMARNOCK: MacDonald; O'Donnell, Greer, Findlay, Taylor, Jones (Burke 90); Wilson (Hawkshaw 22); Frizzell, Waters, McKenzie, Erwin. Subs not used: Broadfoot, Boyd, Thomas, Samiizadeh, Bell, Burke.

STARMAN: Jordan Jones 3

Dean Hawkshaw 2

Gordon Greer 1.