Kilmarnock missed the opportunity to put distance between themselves and relegation danger with a dismal defeat at home to St Johnstone.
A Liam Gordon header was enough to seal three points for Saints and ensure safety for the Perth side.
But Killie are far from safe, however a win for Livingston over Dundee United and a 99th minute winner for Motherwell against Ross County ensured it wasn't a disaster for the Ayrshire side.
It was an unchanged XI for Derek McInnes as he looked to build on last week's 2-0 victory at home to Livingston.
The Killie boss said: “We missed an opportunity, a few weeks ago we felt as if we were playing for 10th, but on Saturday we had the chance to go ninth.
“We were confident with it being at Rugby Park, I thought we started the game well.
“We had a few chances, and I felt we had a lot of control in the game.
“We allowed a corner to fizz across the six yard box and we paid the ultimate penalty.
“We then had it all to do, we had plenty of time but it wasn’t to be."
The Saints had a great chance in the eighth minute when Drey Wright beat the defence to get through on goal, but Sam Walker stayed strong to palm the effort away.
Three minutes later it was 1-0 to the visitors as Gordon found himself free in the box for an easy header into the back of the net.
Luke Chambers had an incredible chance on the half hour mark as he smashed the post with a low shot, a goal that would have been written in the stars just days after he declined an Under-20s World Cup spot to help Killie in their relegation battle.
Liam Donnelly was laid off in the box by Christian Doidge but blasted wide in the 42nd minute.
Just before half time things went from bad to worse for Killie as young David Watson was shown a straight red card for serious foul play.
And just after the break Derek McInnes was dealt another blow as Liam Donnelly hobbled off and was replaced by captain Alan Power.
Cameron Ballantyne ended up one-on-one in the 81st minute as he fired across goal, but again Walker did well to keep Killie in the game as he did all afternoon.
Substitute Jordan Jones had a good run three minutes later before firing a low shot, but it went narrowly wide hitting the side netting.
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