Last season we seemed to do fairly well against Kilmarnock, the only defeat coming in the equivalent fixture at Rugby Park just after New Year. The other three we won - and in some style, perhaps because we had a pretty similar style of play. However, it was the defeat to them a year ago that was the start of a horrendous run of form that saw us go without a win until just before the split and that's something we desperately have to avoid this time around. A win would be the perfect start to the New Year and hopefully put the demons of last year's defeat to bed, as well as sending us into the winter break on a high.
We ended 2012 on a terrific high with a fantastic win over Dundee United on Sunday. OK, we shipped three goals but we did score four, all but one coming from our defenders. I'll be more than happy if they go back to focussing on defending tomorrow! Not only did the result move us further away from Dundee but our faint hopes of making the top six have suddenly been revived and we're just three points behind tomorrow's opponents. Another good result would have us right in the mix when hostilities resume after the break and what looked like being a disappointing campaign could be a good one after all. However, let's not get carried away - we have to keep getting points on the board and pushing ourselves further away from the bottom spot before we can start dreaming of the top six.
Danny Lennon may well be tempted to start with the side that picked up three points at Tannadice, although hopefully if he does things will be a wee bit tighter at the back. Steven Thompson kept up his good form and is now the only Buddie to reach double figures in the SPL in two different seasons. Frustratingly, strike partner Lewis Guy hasn't scored since the start of October and that's a run he could really do with ending - we can't keep hoping for the likes of Paul Dummett and David van Zanten to keep up their personal hot streaks!
It'll be interesting to see if Paul McGowan starts again tomorrow. I was surprised to see him start against the Arabs after featuring against Inverness Caley Thistle and he ended up playing the full 90 minutes. Will a third start in three games be asking a bit much? Jon Robertson may be a doubt after having to go off with a knock on Wednesday but we will have another ginger midfielder available as Conor Newton has completed his loan move from Newcastle. If doesn't start the slot is likely to be taken by Dougie Imrie or Graham Carey - although Lee Mair could be brought in with Jim Goodwin moving into midfield. Kenny McLean won't be filling the hole as he's still injured, as are Darren McGregor and Thomas Reilly.
Kenny Shiels has, unintentionally, become one of Scottish football's more colourful characters over the past few years. The Killie boss is coming out with increasingly bizarre statements about things and seems to be getting into the trouble with the SFA a lot. In December he claimed he was going to play Manuel Pascali because he felt he'd served a ban while he made allegations that referees and officials were lying to get him into trouble. It's certainly providing the papers with plenty of copy but he seems to be picking fights he'll almost certainly not win. Perhaps he's doing it to take pressure off his team, who have been going along very nicely and are currently sixth, having lifted the League Cup last season. Admittedly their defence ended at the first hurdle when they lost to Stenhousemuir, but they did take a fine win over Celtic at Parkhead - their first there for more than half a century.
Killie fans were probably rather relieved to see Cammy Bell return to action after a spell on the sidelines, even if he was wrongly sent off in one of his first games back. The goalie was one of the heroes of the League Cup triumph and deputy Kyle Letheren was far from impressive, suggesting the Scotland cap will be the number one barring any more injury or suspension problems. His defensive line isn't too bad, Michael Nelson and Ryan O'Leary seeming relatively solid while Garry Hay and James Fowler can fill in there or in midfield if required. Mahamadou Sissoko is also back at the club, having signed permanently following two spells on loan from Udinese.
A more regular sight on the left hand side of defence than Hay these days is Jeroen Tesselaar. This is his first game back in Paisley after he decided to leave us for Rugby Park tomorrow and he'll probably be in for a rough time from the home fans - especially as the move was almost certainly motivated by money as he turned down a contract to stay at Saints. Like Bell and Hay he has had a few injury problems this season but seems to be over them. Also back fully fit is striker Paul Heffernan, who had a terrific season last year before being out for more than six months. His absence left Killie incredibly short of strikers at the start of the season before they brought in Cillian Sheridan, a signing that was always going to work after his displays at St Johnstone last season. Sure enough he's scored nine goals and the addition of a strike partner in Heffernan should only help him out.
The pair are also benefiting from the midfield creativity of Gary Harkins. One of the most talented midfielders in the league who isn't playing at Celtic, it'll be interesting to see how long Shiels can keep hold of him as he has been terrific since stepping up from Dundee at the start of last season. He has the same problem with Liam Kelly, who is out of contract in the summer and is attracting interest from down south. Kelly was capped by Scotland earlier in the season and seems to be a real talent, while James Dayton and Danny Racchi have caused us a few problems in the past. Captain Manuel Pascali - the subject of one of Shiels' musings to the press - does a lot of the dirty work and sadly had to miss the cup triumph due to injury, although given some of his tackling at times he may have been ruled out by suspension if he had been fit!
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