Nathan Tyson eager to get going at Kilmarnock
New Kilmarnock striker Nathan Tyson cannot wait to take on his pals playing for the Old Firm - but admits it is the games against the rest of the top-flight which will make or break his campaign.
The veteran frontman became Rugby Park boss Lee Clark's 17th summer signing when he penned a deal to the end of the season earlier this week.
The former Doncaster forward will find plenty of familiar faces as he travels round the country following spells at 12 clubs down south.
Tyson has already teamed up with Killie frontman Kris Boyd before at Nottingham Forest and could make his debut on Saturday against Partick Thistle, who have just signed his former Keepmoat Stadium team-mate Thorsten Stuckmann.
He has also spent time playing next to Celtic's Kris Commons at Derby and Rangers trio Joe Garner, Andy Halliday and Harry Forrester.
The 34-year-old is already looking forward to taking on his old friends but admits with Kilmarnock sitting third bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership, he cannot afford to only concentrate on the big two.
Tyson told Press Association Sport: "I just decided to come up and make my own judgement. I liked what I saw.
"There's a feel-good factor up here now. You've got Rangers back up now and it does make the league more exciting. The time they were out of the top division, that buzz drifted away but now it's back and teams like Kilmarnock are going to benefit. Hopefully it will be competitive like it was back in the late 90s.
"I haven't managed to get in touch with Kris yet but I'll probably go for a coffee with Harry soon and try to find out Rangers' set-pieces.
"But it's not just the games against the big two I'm looking forward to - it's all of them. The position the club is in at the minute we need to start improving and that means concentrating on everyone else."
Tyson - who hit 21 goals in 80 appearances for last club Doncaster - had options to go abroad during the summer but saw them fall through.
He insists, though, that moving to Scotland for the first time was not settling for second best.
"I just thought I may as well give it a go here," said the ex-Swansea, Derby and Blackpool hitman. "It's something new, something refreshing, a different challenge and top-flight football.
"I was already prepared to move. I was looking at interest from India, America and Australia, so I was already in a position to uproot and go.
"It was just talks, there was no contracts on the table and in the end those moves didn't happen but I also had offers from other clubs in League One.
"But it was a no-brainer to come here. It appealed to me more."
Charlee Adams will miss the game after Dundee defender Kevin Gomis' wild tackle last week left him requiring stitches to a gash on his shin.
Greg Kiltie (hamstring), Miles Addison (ankle) and Callum McFadzean (foot) remain unavailable, while Greg Taylor is suspended.
Meanwhile, Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald has revealed his concern for goalkeeper Tomas Cerny's recurring foot injury.
The 31-year-old missed several games at the end of last season after landing awkwardly in a match against Dundee United and had to be replaced by Ryan Scully in the first-half of last week's 2-0 defeat by St Johnstone at Firhill when the pain flared up again.
Cerny had already missed several Betfred Cup games this season and, ahead of the clash against Kilmarnock on Saturday, Archibald said: "Tomas is feeling better but we are just not sure how it is going to go with his foot.
"He has had a few episodes with it and we are not sure how it is going to last.
"It is not his metatarsal but just round about there, it is just when he plants his foot. It is not an impact injury and he has had no problem training.
"It is a weird thing. He was training the best part of eight weeks and we have had no problem but when he goes out on the pitch - that's twice it has happened in four games
"The pain has gone away a bit but it is a concern because we don't want to take the risk of playing him and we need to make a substitution because it kills us a little bit.
"We have had scans before. After the latest the surgeon thought the episodes would become less and less in terms of when they happen and when they do happen, the pain would be less and the recovery would be quicker.
"So we can just hope that he gets it right."
Stuckmann will go straight into Thistle's squad after signing a deal until January.
Source: PAR
