Derek McInnes knows how influential Matty Kennedy is to his Kilmarnock side - and he's praying he can call on the winger again after the international break.
Kennedy, 29, had been one of Killie's most consistent performers prior to suffering a knee injury in training last week. He missed the Scottish Cup quarter-final loss against Aberdeen and there were fears he could be sidelined for a lengthy period but thankfully scans have shown it to be less serious than anticipated.
McInnes concedes the Northern Ireland international's absence will be felt when they face St Mirren on Saturday yet he's hopeful his team can adapt. He said: “It’s nothing too sinister. We got him scanned and he’s got a grade one strain on his medial ligament.
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"Fortunately for us it means he will be back after the international break, he’s not going to miss too many games. He should be available for Hearts when we come out of the break, it’s normally 10 days to two-week injury.
"We missed him last weekend, there’s no doubt about it. Matty has been in such good form and it’s important we adapt better than we did last week. I didn’t think we were great in the game.
“But we have obviously got a very important fixture this weekend and a really good game to look forward to.”
Kilmarnock signed both Kevin van Veen and Greg Stewart in January, however the pair have had injury setback's of their own and rarely featured.
McInnes admitted it’s been frustrating for the duo, although he insists they may still play their part during the season run-in, with a European place in sight.
“He’s not trained this week, Kevin,” McInnes revealed. “He had a quite bad hamstring injury early on in his career and it’s in a similar area. He was aware of it in the warm-up during the game on Saturday and it became clear he wasn’t able to go on, which was a real blow for us.
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“Hopefully he will be okay for the weekend but it’s still up for debate. It’s been a wee bit stop-start with him, he had a wee bit of illness and a couple of wee bits and pieces. We are keen to get him going.
“Likewise with Greg Stewart, he has the onset of a hernia that he is probably going to need to get done, a groin injury that we are trying to manage.
“Both these lads who came in in January have not had their issues to seek but hopefully they can still have an impact for us between now and the end of the season.
“If Kevin is fit for the game on Saturday we can maybe accelerate a bit of work through him next week and take advantage of the break. We signed him to be a big player and we have to get him fit to be that player for us.”
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