Neil McCann promises that leaders Hearts will be given a “tough game” by his wounded Kilmarnock side, who suffered a damning defeat to high-flying Falkirk in their last league encounter.
The Ayrshire team have had 2 weeks to stew on the 5-1 defeat, but believes the break allowed his side to “refocus”.
“We’ve had a wee bit of extra time to stew on that defeat from Falkirk, which looked totally out of character in terms of performances that we’ve produced since I’ve been here.
“I think everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and we were punished by a really good side.
“What it has done is give us a wee bit of time to actually look at where we’ve gone wrong in that game, in particular.
“With a mix of just giving the boys a wee bit of time away as well because we have been training them hard, so it’s been beneficial, I hope to everybody.”
McCann expects a reaction from his team, who “look forward” to welcoming Derek McInnes’ side.
“I’ve never seen anything other than a brilliant attitude in training since I’ve been in here. I’ve been talking about the attitude of the boys and what we’ve been asking them to do, of course.
“They are gonna be a wee bit low when they return from that defeat and so we should be it was a sore one for everybody to take.
“We were really disappointed in ourselves, the show we put on, in most of the other games, I think you can say we’ve been right in, and looking like a threat.
“But it has given up a wee bit of a jolt at a good point of the season, actually, with the four games coming up before the split
“It’s maybe refocused our minds, we look forward to welcoming hearts here at Rugby Park.”
McCann believes his side will be tough outfit for the Gorgie side to crack.
“Hearts are going great, and its gonna be a really tough game, they are coming here with their own pressures, to stay at the top of the table, and I think they’ll be thinking this is a hard game.
“I honestly do believe that they’ll be expecting a tough game from us down here and I think we’ve been really good at home of late, so we’ve got to continue that for, and belief. Hopefully, we get a big crowd behind us”
The manager added that there were no injury scares, his side were “pretty strong” and had a “full group training today [Friday]”.
