Saints have just the one definite absentee tomorrow. Mixu Paatelainen will be missing for a few weeks, having undergone surgery on his knee earlier in the week. Everyone else is fit enough to play, even if not fully fit, so MacPherson and Reilly should be able to put in 90 minutes despite having slight knocks. No suspensions to worry about, so apart from Mixu it should be a fairly strong team.
Stewart Kean left Ayr United for Saints in December, so this is his first trip back to his old stomping ground. He's scored three goals for Saints since then, and, as all our former players score against us, he should be able to bag one tomorrow. Tow of his goals came against Hamilton in the last round, so hopefully he can continue his cup form (which runs for a whole game!). Other former Ayr players in the Saints squad include Millen and Mark Crilly, who almost left Saints during the week. Millen will definitely play whilst Crilly will probably have to make do with the bench at best.
Ayr have a few former Saints of their own. Goalkeeper John Hillcoat had two spells at Love Street, putting in some decent performances in the second in 2002, whilst Dougie Ramsay was on trial at Love Street in the summer of 2003. Neither of those are important, however, compared to title winners Ludovic Roy and Barry McLaughlin. Ludo has already faced Saints a few times since leaving in the summer of 2003, and managed to create a bizarre situation when the Saints fans chanted "Ludo, give us a wave." He duly did so, which resulted in the Saints fans shouting "Ludo's still a Saint" and the Ayr fans shouting abuse! Most odd. McLaughlin hasn't played against us since leaving in the summer of 2002, so it will be interesting to see how he copes and what the fan reaction will be.
Tomorrow is a chance for Saints to make the cup quarter finals for the first time since 1987, when we won the cup. That same season we were dumped out of the League Cup 5-1 away to lower league Forfar. Thankfully the same hdidn't happen this year. It was 5-2 at Love Street. Hopefully the players will remember that, and the former Killie players will remember the cup shocks they've suffered, and we won't get any complacency.
It won't be any easy match by any means, so hopefully Saints can come through and make Monday night's draw.