Miller must wait for Killie bow
Striker Lee Miller will have to wait to make his Kilmarnock debut after suffering a calf strain.
The former Hearts, Dundee United and Aberdeen forward missed Saturday's draw at Dundee and will not be fit in time for Aberdeen's visit to Rugby Park on Wednesday night.
However, midfielder Jamie Hamill could make his second bow for Killie following his return from Hearts in the summer after serving a one-match ban last weekend.
Boss Allan Johnston believes opposition managers will have to think twice about which players they use on the new plastic Rugby Park pitch.
The Ayrshiremen will put their new B#500,000 3G surface to the test for the first time against Aberdeen.
But the Dons may choose not to risk the ageing limbs of Barry Robson or Russell Anderson on the unforgiving artificial turf.
And Johnston hopes other Scottish Premiership bosses will play into Killie's hands by resting their top names ahead of trips down the M77.
He said: "With us having the astro now, I can see some managers taking that into account when they name their sides here.
"It will be something that older players will have to think about. I don't see the younger guys having too much trouble with it because they are brought up on astros nowadays.
"Our boys say it is one of the best surfaces that they have played on in terms of astroturf.
"But hopefully other teams coming here might end up leaving some players out of their team if they have guys with niggles and decide they don't want to risk it on an artificial pitch.
"However, Hamilton have got one now and so do we. So I don't see managers doing it too often otherwise they will end up with players missing a lot of games."
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes insists he will not point the finger of blame at the pitch if his side slump to their fourth defeat on the bounce.
He told RedTV: "I don't think the artificial pitch is ideal to be honest. I always felt even as a player having played on it and a manager too that Kilmarnock was one of the better pitches.
"It was a good grass pitch, so I'm disappointed it's not still grass which we always prefer.
"But the decision has been made and I'm sure Kilmarnock thought long and hard about it. But like when we played Falkirk on astroturf last season, we said before if we lost it would not be down to the pitch.
"So we won't look to make any excuses for the pitch, but from an ideal point of view we would prefer it was still on grass."
Skipper Russell Anderson and midfielder Jonny Hayes return from suspension for Aberdeen.
Source: PA
