Shiels happy to see Ibrox danger man sit game out

Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels says there is no question that the absence of Steven Naismith in the Rangers line-up at Ibrox tonight is a major boost for the visitors.

Naismith serves the first match of a two-game ban, imposed after catching Dunfermline full-back Austin McCann with his arm on Saturday.

Shiels said: “I think he is a great player for the league, a fantastic entertaining player, who scores fantastic goals. We would be the benefactors of that if he’s not playing. Anyone in my position would say that.”

Kilmarnock go into the encounter on the back of a 3-0 defeat at St Mirren Park, but Shiels is adamant there were mitigating factors for the loss that were outside their control.

Striker Paul Heffernan had a goal disallowed for offside when the game was goalless and Zdenek Kroca, who twice hit the bar with headers, was harshly penalised for handball to allow Paul McGowan to score his second goal for Danny Lennon’s team before the break.

Mohamadou Sissoko then felt he was pushed by Nigel Hasselbaink before the Dutchman made it 3-0.

Shiels said: “The team did enough to win the match on Saturday. I don’t want to take anything away from St Mirren but they weren’t actually as good as I thought they had been and I’m sure Danny thinks that as well, because we got a lot of success in terms of territorial advantage and how we passed the ball. They were chasing the ball.

“We have since found out there were two players playing Heffernan onside so it wasn’t even marginal. That disappoints me as it would have put us in front. Then there was an illegitimate goal which killed us. The third goal was a push on our centre-back, so there was an accumulation of errors.”