Kilmarnock 1 Dundee United 2 (AET): Dylan Levitt sinks Ayrshire side

United can count themselves fortunate to progress though, given the various golden chances Killie missed.

But in the cup, the result is all that matters. Tam Courts was delighted to see his men get through the tricky encounter.

He said: “For us, in terms of team selection we wanted to be bold and brave. Obviously we have been on the back of a couple of poor results recently but I really wanted to send a strong signal to the players that we are coming down here to attack the game and get into the next round.

“It was a really end to end game, a bit of thriller. Once we seen the game ebbing and flowing like that we just committed to it. Thankfully we got the win which I'm really delighted about.

“Kilmarnock majorly played their part. They are a Premiership club. They've got a lot of top players. We gave them total respect today.

“I thought it was a real show of character and resilience and determination from the players to get over the line today and delighted to send the Dundee United fans home happy.

“It will give them a lot of confidence. Footballers are competitors. We had a lot of positive results and performances at the start of the season. We haven’t picked up a lot of wins of late so it will probably settle them down.”

With a bumper crowd inside the ground – including a huge 1,600-strong away following - the scene was set for an entertaining afternoon.

And we were treated to an early goal. A long punt up the park saw McNulty evade the offside trap. The striker burst away from Taylor and slotted past Zach Hemming via the post after just three-minutes.

The travelling support went wild, as Killie tried to settle. Moments later, Taylor forced Benji Siegrist into a decent save with a header from a corner.

United would create the next chance of note. Watt slipped in Kieran Freeman inside the box. The winger skipped past Chris Stokes, but Hemming was alert to the danger and was out quickly to smother him.

But Killie wouldn’t be behind for long, as they equalised inside 20-minutes. Stokes passed to Shaw, and his clever flick on laid in Rory McKenzie. His initial shot was saved by Siegrist, but the Rugby Park hero was quick to latch on to the rebound and find the bottom corner.

It was a well-worked goal, as Killie grew in confidence and got in their opponents’ faces.

McKenzie would have another effort on goal, but it was comfortably held by the keeper. Fraser Murray had a similar attempt held.

Shaw would be next to have a go – being played clean through after an error by Scott McMann – but he scuffed wide when he should’ve done much better. Killie were well on top at this stage, with Daniel MacKay also going close.

United were still a threat though, as Hemming had to be rapid off his line in order to stop Freeman from bearing down on goal.

After an action packed first-half, the second had a lot to live up to.

Kyle Lafferty was subbed on to a standing ovation for his second Killie debut, as he replaced MacKay and Derek McInnes switched his team’s shape slightly.

There was little action again until the 64th-minute, when the United defence had to be on top form to clear a goal-bound header from Taylor off the line.

This seemed to lift Killie, with the energetic McKenzie testing Siegrist with another powerful effort.

After a bright spell for United, Blair Alston tried his luck from distance on the counter attack, as Siegrist once more denied Killie.

Ilmari Niskanen thought he’d won it for United into the final ten-minutes, but his lovely curling shot kissed the outside of the post.

The sides couldn’t be separated, so we headed for extra-time.

And it would be the away team who got the all-important winner. After some sustained pressure down the left, Levitt received the ball in a central area. He skipped by Euan Murray and placed his shot expertly into the bottom corner, leaving Hemming no chance.

Killie could feel hard done to, with their valiant efforts counting for nothing. But they have plenty to build on in league business.

McInnes said: “It was a sore one to take, there were loads of aspects of the performance I was pleased with. 

“I was dying to help my team in extra time, but when you’re restricted with just one extra sub it’s hard. 

“I tried to be positive with the subs, we could have shored up the defence and played for penalties, but I didn’t want to send that kind of message out. 

“The risk and reward is always there, we had umpteen chances in the game to get that all-important second goal. Then unfortunately for us when it came for United it was in the dying embers of the game. The players gave absolutely everything.”