Kyle Lafferty was in the thick of it as he inspired Kilmarnock to their first home win since October.
The hope now for the Rugby Park side is that further goals are pivotal to propelling the Rugby Park side straight back up to the top flight, a task that is never entirely straightforward for those teams who find themselves slipping down a division.
It hasn’t been an easy road for Kilmarnock so far. Inconsistency in the league led to a change of managers with Derek McInnes taking over from where Tommy Wright left off last month. It has so far given the Ayrshire side the jump they were looking for with the club unbeaten in league duty since then.
The win over Inverness on Saturday was crucial with Kilmarnock now in the position of potentially going to the top of the Cinch Championship on Friday should they emerge victorious from their trip to play league leaders Arbroath on Friday night.
Lafferty’s 9th minute goal against Inverness on Saturday, the only goal of the game, was an indication of the potency he can offer in the penalty box. Rifling home Dan MacKay’s cross there was a reminder of just what the 34-year-old can offer.
His contribution in the latter half of the last season of 13 goals was insufficient to save the club but a similar return now would be welcome as Kilmarnock look to press home their promotion ambitions.
“I was obviously part of the team who got relegated and I didn't do enough to keep them up,” reflected Lafferty. “We're a Premiership team and, yeah, if you want to call it unfinished business that's what it is. I've come here to score goals and help the team.
“Friday is an important game for us, just like every game from now until the end of the season. It's always going to be a battle, so it'll be just another game for us.
“I enjoy getting goals at any time of the season but for some reason they always seem to come towards the end.
“Hopefully I get a few more but it's not all about me. I've come here to help the team - there are a lot of young players who will go on to have great careers and we have senior players in the team who want to add a promotion to their career CVs.”
Inverness had a shout for a penalty in the final seconds of the game when substitute Joe Hardy opted to stay on his feet after a nudge from Zach Hemming but they are now on a run of form that stretches to six games without a win. It irked manager Billy Dodds that Hardy did not go down but in truth it was not a game where Inverness ever looked likely of taking anything from the encounter.
Kilmarnock’s only real worry was the sight of Lafferty forced off midway through the second period as he clutched his lower back. Stiffness in his hip was the reason although it is understood to owe more to a lack of game time recently than to anything more sinister.
“I’ll get a few days recovery and some treatment, it should be fine,” he said.
He will be available for Friday night in what could be a significant night in the Championship.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here