Killie boss wants no slip-ups

Jan 25 2013 by David Wren, Kilmarnock Standard

Killie boss Kenny Shiels insists there is no margin for error on Sunday when his team travels to Dundee.

The Rugby Park side face a testing double-header this week, with a trip to Dens Park on Sunday followed by a tricky game against the champions at Celtic Park in midweek.

And Shiels believes his side will have to be at their very best to take something from the game against the Dark Blues.

He told the Standard: “It’s going to be a really tough game, Dundee are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the league.

“They’ve picked up some great results recently and we’ll need to be at our very best to take anything from the game.”

Killie have also brought in ex-Malaga defender Daniel Orozco on trial this week. Orozco, 25, began his career at Malaga and has most recently played for Asteras Tripoli in Greece.

However, Shiels admits it’s to early to rate the Spaniard, saying: “It’s still early days yet but we’ll have a look at Daniel over the next couple of days and see how he gets on in training.”

After the troubles off the park this week it will be important for Killie to do their talking on the pitch and right the wrongs of last week’s defeat to Dundee United.

Killie U20s were impressive in their match against Dundee United U20s, winning 3-0 on Tuesday afternoon and Shiels insists youth will be pushed through sooner rather than later.

He said: “We’re always trying to bring youth through and that is something we’ll be doing all the time over the coming months.

“There is definitely a few quality players in our youth system so it’s an exciting time for the club.”

The Kilmarnock manager took a moment to ponder the tough game against Celtic next Wednesday.

Killie defeated Celtic 2-0 at Parkhead in October, with goals from Cillian Sheridan and Liam Kelly.

But Shiels admits it will be no easy task to repeat the feat.

He said: “It’s difficult to speak about the Celtic game because we are so concentrated on the game against Dundee but if we go and play the same as we did last time there’s no reason we can’t win.

“I think if we come away knowing we’ve tried our best, that’s all we can do.”

In what has been a hard week for the club, Kilmarnock will now look to get their focus on football again by picking up a valuable win on Sunday to charge back into the top six.