Jefferies salutes Kilmarnock saviour Kyle

Published on Thursday 14 May 2009 23:00

JIM Jefferies has hailed the contribution of Kevin Kyle after the striker's vital double against St Mirren edged Kilmarnock closer to safety, and the Rugby Park manager warned the player will pose an even greater threat to SPL defences next season.

Kyle scored both Kilmarnock goals in Wednesday's 2-1 win, taking his tally to six in three games, and giving his team a four-point cushion from the bottom of the table with two games of the season remaining.

Jefferies, who saw the 27-year-old score on his debut after his arrival at the end of January, said: "I've chased Kevin for a long time, such as when I was at Hearts, but I could never afford him. You can just get a wee break because you keep pestering for somebody – the agent phoned and asked would I still be interested, and I told him what I could afford.

"Kevin wanted to play in Scotland and he's come in and done a terrific job for us; he's the threat we've been needing.

"The fact he's scored our last six goals shows why we brought him in; we haven't been scoring goals and he's banged in six in three important games for us.

"All the boys have had a lift from him coming in because some of our play has been great this year and we just haven't been finishing off. But now they know if they put the right balls in there, there will be somebody on the deck or in the air who's going to get on the end of it.

"We have him for another year and he'll be starting the season once he gets a pre-season under his belt.

He'll want to stay in this league to show what he can do and that's why he's out there busting a gut like everybody else to stay in the league."

St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson knows his team's failure to deal with Kyle has cost them dear. Saints are now bottom of the table – one point behind Falkirk – after three consecutive bottom-six defeats and tomorrow's trip to face John Hughes' men at the Falkirk Stadium is now crucial.

MacPherson said: "We know that we're going into a game that we have to win, and the players know that the club is the most important thing.

"After being critical of the players in the two home defeats, we reacted really well.

"But performances don't matter at this stage – it's all about getting three points on Saturday.

"We made mistakes against Kilmarnock because we're not defending properly; Kevin Kyle is a presence in the box and at this level the quality of player and the quality of balls into the box means they're capable of taking chances."