Danny Lennon aims for back-to-back wins at Kilmarnock

By GAVIN McCAFFERTY
Published on 21/09/2012 02:18

Danny Lennon knows victory for his St Mirren side at Kilmarnock tomorrow would have more significance than just three points.

Lennon’s side beat Hearts 2-0 in Paisley last week and now sit third in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League table with nine points from six games. Lennon is relatively pleased with the start to the campaign but now looks for back-to-back SPL wins, a feat which took until the final weeks of last season to achieve when a 1-0 home win over Hibernian was followed up by a 2-0 win at Rugby Park on 2 May.

The St Mirren manager said: “It has been an okay start to the season and the international break has given us time to reflect on certain things that we have been doing well and things that we have to work on. The big message is to get consistency. There was progression last week in terms of us beating Hearts for the first time in a long while and that gives us an indication of the progression.

“It wasn’t a fantastic spectacle in terms of us having ownership of the ball for a long time. But we had a resilience about us, a mentality that if there was a mistake made, and it happened all over the pitch, we had two or three players to recover and pull us out of it. That is something that we need. But the message we have to get across is one of consistency. We have to get the elusive back-to-back victories, something that took us well into last season to get. We have the opportunity to get that on Saturday but we know how difficult that is going to be.

“Kilmarnock are a very good side, renowned for their quality passing with which they won silverware last season.”

Kilmarnock could be without Borja Perez after the Spanish midfielder suffered an abductor muscle strain. Assistant manager Jimmy Nicholl said: “We came in this morning and Borja was on the treatment table. [Physio] Alex MacQueen will look at him in the morning and find out if it’s going to rule him out for the weekend. But the way he’s looking, he could be out.”

Gary Harkins could come back into the starting line-up after a head knock as Killie look to hone their attacking game amid the continuing absence of Paul Heffernan, who is recovering from a broken collarbone. Former Celtic striker Cillian Sheridan made his debut in the 2-1 defeat by Hibernian last weekend and Nicholl has high hopes for the Irishman.

“I’m really optimistic,” Nicholl said. “Sometimes when you get a player in you feel it’s going to make a difference, and I just feel it’s going to make a difference to the team and our chances of winning games. Eventually once he gets settled in, because of the way he is and his physique, he will really help the other strikers. We’ve got loads of strikers and just have to get the right blend.”