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Kilmarnock's Kyle Lafferty to miss Motherwell clash

Kilmarnock's Kyle Lafferty to miss Motherwell clash
© Reuters
Kyle Lafferty missed Monday's Scottish Cup shoot-out defeat by St Mirren with a foot injury and Nicke Kabamba is out for the season

Kilmarnock will be without strikers Kyle Lafferty and Nicke Kabamba for their trip to Motherwell but the Northern Ireland international will be back for the final two Scottish Premiership games.

Lafferty missed Monday's Scottish Cup shoot-out defeat by St Mirren with a foot injury and Kabamba is out for the season after suffering a hamstring injury in extra time.

But Lafferty will be back to face the Paisley side on May 12 and Tommy Wright is confident he still has plenty of goals in his team ahead of Saturday's Fir Park clash.

"He will be fit for St Mirren, which is a positive for us," the Killie boss said. "Nicke is out for the season, we knew that pretty much at the time, it's a grade-two hamstring."

Lafferty struck 11 goals in six matches before his injury but the team in general have been hitting the net regularly since finding their feet under Wright, with 19 goals in six games.

On his alternative strikers, Wright said: "George Oakley was excellent the other night, really good.

"Unfortunate with two chances, with one he hits the side netting and one just goes over the bar, maybe the goalkeeper got a touch. Linked the play up well, worked hard, set up a goal. So he has done well.

"Danny Whitehall is chomping at the bit.

"The good news this week is that Kyle will definitely be fit for the last two.

"You could see Kyle has been that final piece in the jigsaw for us in terms of the team, but the rest of the pieces have stepped up to the mark and not only provided the chances for Kyle, they have taken chances.

"We have had other people chipping in with goals on a regular basis."

Chris Burke netted in a 4-1 win over Motherwell last month and the winger has been instrumental in creating a glut of chances during Wright's short tenure so far.

"From my point of view as an attacking player, I enjoy it," Burke said. "I think it's an exciting team to watch and I certainly enjoy playing the style of play Tommy Wright plays.

"We probably put a lot of pressure on the goalkeeper and defensive line and defensive midfielders when the goals weren't going in. We can relieve that little bit of pressure when we score goals. We can play a different style when we go a goal up and it helps the whole team.

"That's something the manager has instilled in us. What I like about it is there's not just one player scoring goals, there's numerous players and even the players that come off the bench."

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St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright pictured in January 2016
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Celtic1514104444043
2Aberdeen16104230181234
3RangersRangers1510232791832
4Motherwell168172226-425
5Dundee UnitedDundee Utd166642519624
6St Mirren176382228-621
7Dundee165472729-219
8Kilmarnock174581834-1617
9Hibernian173682129-815
10Ross County173681333-2015
11St Johnstone1742112032-1214
12Hearts1734101826-813


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