Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes hopes an injury sustained by skipper Kyle Vassell will not take the shine off his team’s 2-0 victory over St Mirren.
A double from Bruce Anderson sealed a third successive home win for the Rugby Park side who now sit just three points off the top half of the Premiership table.
McInnes conceded it was not a vintage performance from Killie but felt they had been worthy of the three points.
He said: “It wasn’t without its issues and obviously we’ve had to work really hard for the win.
“In our last three home games we’ve had three victories and three clean sheets. Today we weren’t at our best by any stretch of the imagination but we got our noses in front.
“And I thought we remained a threat at times when we picked the right pass and had those forward runs causing St Mirren’s back three problems all game.
“We scored goals at a good time today. I think the second goal allowed us to have a bit more comfort getting into the last part of the game.”
Vassell went off with an injury late in the first half, with McInnes revealing his captain had been taken to hospital for further investigation.
He added: “Kyle’s was a serious one I think. It’s his shin.
“I’m just hoping that we get a bit of good fortune with that one. He’s away at the hospital now getting an X-ray so I don’t really want to speculate too much.
“But it certainly looked as if it could be a sore one. He’s a tough boy, he takes some amount of treatment. He doesn’t get fouls half the time because people think he’s so big and strong.
“I think it was a shove off the ball that jarred his leg. Hopefully he gets a bit of fortune with it.”
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson admitted his side had been their own worst enemy as they succumbed meekly to defeat.
He said: “It was a disappointing result and a disappointing performance more to the point.
“We had 58 per cent possession but we played in front of Killie and didn’t hurt them. Killie didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves. They didn’t have to work too hard.
“Our decision-making for the goals is really poor and we gave the ref the option to make decisions, right or wrong, for both penalties.
“We made bad decisions at both of them and you won’t win games playing like that.”
