Keep off the Grass

It's off to Rugby Park on Saturday as Kilmarnock host Inverness on their plastic pitch in a fifth versus seventh premiership match. They played Celtic on it on Monday and a furore broke out when Celtic were denied permission to train on the pitch prior to the game. Meh!

Pitches have moved on since the original ones were installed in the eighties. Stirling Albion were the first to try it out at their then ground at Annfield in 1987. There are now 12 stadiums where grass is no longer used, Hamilton being the only other one in the Premier division. The state of the art 3G surfaces are reckoned to be as good as it gets and might be the way forward in our harsh winters. Water on the surface makes for a great game apparently. That shouldn't be a problem this weekend.

Last Sunday, Inverness eventually saw off St Mirren thanks to a piece of magic from Billy Mckay, the striker flicking home an incisive cross from MotM David Raven half way through the second half. That win was on the back of an excellent derby triumph at Dingwall which broke a run of three defeats over the Xmas period.

Kilmarnock had picked up some form recently with wins over Hamilton and St Mirren, but suffered defeat on Monday when Celtic won 2-0. Prior to beating Hamilton, Killie had gone nine games without a win, losing eight of those games.

Our last few visits to Rugby Park have thrown up mixed results. Three wins and three defeats including that remarkable fireworks display when we won 3-6 in 2011. Nobody saw that one coming, but it was a game that will stick in the memory banks for a long time. We had a Shinnie hat-trick that day, but it was brother Andrew that did the damage, along with a brace from Gregory Tade and a single from Jonny Hayes. Killie's scorers were Dean Shiels (2) and Paul Heffernan. Worth noting that none of these scorers play for the clubs now.

Some positive news for Inverness fans with Greg Tansey signing on for another couple of seasons, but we await deals for Shinnie, Watkins, Mckay, Meekings and Raven. Shinnie, Watkins and Mckay look to be the difficult ones to secure, but there is more hope for Meekings and Raven to be tied up.

In the earlier game in August, Inverness ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. Aaron Doran opened the scoring in the second half and Greg Tansey scored with a superb long range shot that cannoned off the bar/post and Samson, with the keeper actually being credited with scoring the goal. That was a similar game to our last home game, the match taking a while to ignite, but overall a deserved three points.

Marley Watkins missed the St Mirren game with a knock but that was our only worry. Richie Foran is out long term. That gave Nick Ross the chance to shine with Ross Draper returning to the bench after suspension. Carl Tremarco carried on at left back with Graeme Shinnie foraging around in midfield. I would expect a similar squad to face Killie.

Allan Johnstone has the experienced (and sturdy) Alexei Eremenko to call upon. The Russian playmaker is built like a brick shit house, but his ability on the ball is unquestionable. With former Aberdeen player Josh Magennis on the books, Killie are not short of target men.Craig Slater returns to the squad after his suspension. His over exuberant celebration for scoring the winner against St Mirren saw him picking up his second yellow and subsequently missed the Celtic game. The referee as you might have correctly guessed for that chastising sending off was once more the incompetent Willie Collum. Enough said.

Killie are reported to be lining up a bid to entice Kris Boyd back once more. Boyd is now out of favour at troubled the Rangers and if Killie can come up with a package, the proven scorer could find himself playing for the Rugby Parkers once more, the possibility of him lining up against us is a real prospect.

tm4tj prediction:- I thought we might have to settle for a point at Dingwall, but a surprising return to direct football saw us emerge with an easy 3-1 victory. We reverted to type against St Mirren but still took the points, although the performance was a bit below par. It's not easy to work out which approach we will use, but my guess is it will be somewhat cautious and I wont be expecting fireworks this time, although a point won't be too shabby. We are capable of taking all three, but let's not be greedy as Killie are also capable of turning on the style and we have suffered at their hands before.