The Glebe Parkers matched the SPL side for the first half, and could have even found themselves in front had lady luck been on their side.

However, second half goals from Frazer Wright and Craig Bryson killed off the home side as Kilmarnock showed why they are unbeaten so far this season.

Brechin started with the same side that played against Queens Park on Saturday, whilst Kilmarnock only made one change from their weekend fixture, with Allan Russell making his debut in place of the injured David Fernandez.

Although Kilmarnock had the best chances of the first half, in particular after 15 minutes when Nelson got down well to save Wright's header, and again on the half our mark when the Brechin keeper turned Bryson's low shot round the post, Brechin did have the ball in the net.

With just seven minutes on the clock Kevin Byers cross into the box was hooked in by the impressive Gary Twigg, but the linesman had his flag up early to rule the effort out.

There was also a big shout for a penalty 10 minutes later when great play down the left involving Darren Smith and Ian Diack resulted in Smith's cross cannoning off Wright, but referee Steve Conroy waved away Brechin's claim for handball.

While the score was 0-0 at half time, there had been plenty of action at both ends. Brechin had many players in excellent form, but Gary Twigg, Willie Dyer and Kevin Byers stood out in particular.

Kilmarnock made a half time substitution, bringing on William Gibson for the ineffectual Russell, and the away team came out the traps very quickly in the second half, putting Brechin under plenty of pressure.

The pressure paid off in the 58th minute, although Brechin will be kicking themselves for the manner in which they lost the goal.

Mehdi Taouil lofted in a free kick from the right hand side, and the home defence tried to rush out and play the offside trap, but it failed spectacularly as Wright ran clear before drilling his left footed effort low in off the post.

The introduction of Gibson, and shifting of Taouil to centre forward was making a huge difference for Kilmarnock, and Gibson was involved in the Ayrshire team's second goal.

The substitute linked up well with Gary Hay, and the full back pulled the ball back for Craig Bryson to smash the ball in to the top corner from 16 yards.

Brechin rallied late in the game, following the introduction of substitutes Charlie King, Adam Nelson and Richard Walker, and had a good chance to nick a goal back with five minutes left when Twigg and Byers linked up well down the right hand side but Byers cross flashed across the box, which was headed away from almost under the bar for a corner.

More excellent play from Twigg resulted in another corner for Brechin and from that they had a very strong shout for a penalty turned down when Smith was flattened challenging for a loose ball in the box.

After the match manager Michael O'Neill said: "I was disappointed to lost the first goal as we did because it was a mistake.

"Not an individual mistake, we have worked on that in terms of pushing out at free kicks, particularly against a team as big and powerful as Kilmarnock.

"In the first half all the trouble they caused us was from set pieces, and they definitely have a height and physical advantage over us, but we chose the wrong moment to do it.

"I haven't seen the goal, but I've been told that it wasn't offside. It's disappointing as we suffered because of that.

"I think after that we had a 15-20 minute spell where the stuffing was knocked out of it a wee bit, and we lost the second goal.

"I thought in the first half it was an even game, we created good chances and maybe on another night another referee would have given us more free kicks and maybe a penalty, but it wasn't to be.

"However, there were still some excellent performances, the middle of the park I thought were excellent with Janczyk and Nimmo again.

"I thought Jonny Seeley did great, if you think that this time last year he was playing for Spartans and now he's up against an SPL team and not looking out of place.

"All over the pitch we were delighted, Gary Twigg was excellent showing us the quality that he has.

"We take a lot out of the game but I said to the players that they've still got to be disappointed that they lost and I think that they genuinely are because at half time we thought we were in with a chance of genuinely causing an upset.

"We played well in all the games this season, but we maybe just haven't played well enough for long enough, but we have quality in this team.

"We try to play the right way, but we've got a very limited squad which means we're asking the boys to do it all again on Saturday and hopefully they'll be able to lift themselves because if we win on Saturday we'll have had an excellent start to the season.

"We had good opportunities in the first half, Twiggy puts a great ball across the box and Diack just can't quite get on the end of it, there's maybe a hand ball in there that doesn't get given when Darren Smith crossed it.

"If you're going to cause an upset you need all those things to go for you, but they didn't tonight."

Ian Diack was taken off so not to aggravate his previous injury as they player has recently undergone a hernia operation, but the manager reckons he should be ok for the game against East Fife on Saturday.

Brechin:- Craig Nelson, Murie (Walker 74), Dyer, Seeley, White, Nimmo, Byers, Janczyk (Adam Nelson 69), Twigg, Diack (King 69) and Darren -Smith. Subs not used:- Calum Smith and McCluskey.

Kilmarnock:- Combe, Fowler, Hay, Pascali, Wright, Ford (Murray 70), Bryson, Sammon (Simmonds 68), Russell (Gibson 46), Taouil and Invincible. Subs not used:- Skelton and Rascle.
Attendance - 802