Livingston made two changes from the side which claimed a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Hearts in midweek, with Steve Lawson replacing Keaghan Jacobs to take up an unfamiliar right-back role and Aymen Souda picked ahead of Scott Robinson for his first start since October 26.

Kilmarnock, meanwhile, brought in Rory McKenzie in place of Chris Burke following their forgettable midweek stalemate with St Johnstone.

Souda was a constant bright spark for the hosts in the opening period and the attacker was the first to threaten, cutting in from the left flank and testing Branescu with a low drive from the edge of the box.

The was a sign of things to come for the big Romanian as Livi dominated. Branescu was forced into a fine point-blank save to deny Ricki Lamie after the centre-half met an in-swinging Craig Sibbald corner.

The hosts almost claimed the lead following a silky passing move which belied the driving rain and whipping wind that was hindering the contest.

Dykes dinked a delightful pass to Lawless, whose back-heel sent Scott Pittman haring through on goal. Once again, however, Branescu was up to the challenge and made an excellent block with his feet.

Gary Holt's side secured a richly-merited lead 10 minutes after the interval when a deep Pittman free-kick was nodded down by Lamie, allowing Guthrie to slam home his second goal for the club from close range.

The Lions swiftly doubled their advantage when a superb cross by Lawless was met by Dykes, with the forward powering a clinical header past Branescu.

Livi twisted the knife against dismal Killie when Dykes found Lawless on the counter-attack and the winger calmly slotted a low shot under the body of Branescu.