The ex Killie factor should add some extra spice to what should be an interesting game tomorrow. Thanks to what he has achieved at Love Street, Gus is constantly being linked with a return to the club he spent ten years as a player, although quite what current manager Jim Jeffries has to say about that is anyone's guess. Add to that the fact Kevin McGowne, Alex Burke and Andy Millen all used to play for Kilmarnock and things should be interesting tomorrow.
Burke is the most unlikely to play due to the fact he's injured. Brian McGinty, Iain Anderson and Alan Reid are also likely to be on the sidelines. However, the biggest blow this week came yesterday, when star defender John Potter was ruled out for at least six weeks thanks to breaking a toe. It is probably that Ian Maxwell will replace him in defence, although Millen could resume the sweeper role.
Whilst Saints have quite a few former Kilmarnock players on their books, Killie have several ex Hearts staff. As well as manegement duo Jeffries and Billy Brown, they have Grant Murray, Gary Wales and Allan Johnstone. They also have Gary Locke, whose outrageous dive on Hearts last visit to Love Street secured them an incredibly dodgy penalty. Not that I'm bitter...
Injury looks likely to deprive of us a chance to see former Saints keeper Alan Combe in action. This is good and bad; good as he often plays well against us, bad as he often gets himself sent off. It looks likely that Graeme Smith will be fit enough to play, meaning recent signing Chad Harpur will have to do some bench warming.