Source: Team_Talk
Jefferies welcomes back Kyle
Kyle's burgeoning reputation as Killie's talisman has grown even bigger in his absence, with Jefferies' men losing their last two SPL games while the striker recovered from cartilage surgery.
He made his comeback from the bench in Tuesday night's 1-0 defeat at Hearts and Jefferies confirmed the 28-year-old would definitely start Saturday's lunchtime showdown with champions Rangers.
"He's back, he'll be in the side; there'll be 10 others with Kevin," said Jefferies, who nevertheless reiterated Kyle was only as good as the service provided by his team-mates.
"He's not a one-man team because you've got to play well and you've got to defend well and you've got to create the opportunities for Kevin.
"But we know that when he's playing and it's in and around the box, we've got a better chance."
Jefferies revealed Kyle had been itching to start at Tynecastle but he would not have featured at all had the game been played last Saturday - it was postponed after a lorry fire caused chaos on the M8.
"Nice to see him come off and say the right things like, 'I wish I'd started'," said Jefferies, who felt Kyle's cameo caused Hearts "all sorts of problems".
"That means he's ready for Saturday.
"If he'd played the game the other night from the start, he might have been feeling it.
"For somebody to come back off an operation and play three games in a week is really difficult."
After Kyle inspired them to victory on the opening day of the season, Killie have now lost three league games in a row.
But Jefferies saw enough in the defeats to St Mirren and Hearts to be confident this run would not last.
"It would be concerning me if we hadn't been playing well," he said.
"The only game we've not played well in is against Motherwell and we know that."
Ending that sequence against Rangers looks like a tall order.
Killie have lost their last six meetings with the champions but Jefferies is not one for statistics.
"We've not got a good record against them but records are made to be broken," he said.
Neither is the veteran boss one for reading anything into Rangers' defensive selection worries.
Walter Smith was forced to play Lee McCulloch as a makeshift centre-half in last night's 1-1 Champions League draw at Stuttgart after captain David Weir picked up an injury.
With Madjid Bougherra also suspended this weekend, there appears to be a weakness in the Rangers rearguard which could be exploited.
But Jefferies said: "I can tell you now that Rangers are a good side; it doesn't matter who will play there. You saw McCulloch coming in last night and he did great.
"I just know one thing through the years, that Rangers are a very, very difficult side to beat, whatever the circumstances, or whatever the team they put out.
"They've got better players than us and we've got to make up for that by raising our game, being well-organised, competing very well.
"And when chances come along - if you're going to win - you've got to take them."
