Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes admits he’ll be looking to bring in a defender during the January transfer window after confirming Stuart Findlay could be sidelined for a further four months.
The 29-year-old underwent surgery last week after sustaining ankle ligament damage during his side’s 3-2 loss at Dundee earlier this month.
The two teams meet again on Saturday at Rugby Park with Killie looking to end a three game losing streak that has seen them fall to 10th place in the Premiership table.
Speaking to the media ahead of that clash, McInnes said: “Stuart is out for the best part of three to four months. He had an operation in London last week.
“I think, obviously, with the fixtures coming up, there’s a lot of games. I think we’ve just about got enough at the minute in that sense.
“But with Stuart probably out to the end of March that’s a long time away, and he’s such an influential defender, we probably will look to try and add to the squad in January.
“I would say, if this was the first day of the window opening, then maybe defensively is an area where we would look to try and bring in somebody.”
The gaffer also insisted his side don’t have a discipline problem despite Liam Donnelly racking up their sixth red card of the season in their 1-0 away loss against St Johnstone on Saturday.
The midfielder misses the fixture against Dundee due to suspension, while winger Matty Kennedy has received an injection in his back after injury ruled him out of the clash in Perth.
McInnes said: “I don’t believe we are an overly-excessive, physical team, apart from one off the ball (incident), Joe Wright at St Mirren, I think we’ve been punished to the full extreme with a lot of the red cards.
“I don’t believe we have a discipline problem, but the amount of red cards would suggest otherwise.
“I think I’ve got to be really careful, all managers, when players get booked. Robbie Deas gets booked in the first half last Saturday. He wins the ball clear as day in front of me, the referee books him.
“And we’re thinking, maybe we need to get Deasy off here, because, we’re seeing players getting cautioned for two tackles far too often.”
He added: “I do think the bar has been set so low this season. I have looked at games with similar things that we’ve been punished for every other weekend, and I don’t see the same yellow card offence for these ones.
“So it’s depending what referee you get a lot of time not what offence you make.”