Kilmarnock have no fresh injury problems for their Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final against Rangers. Long-term injury absentees James Dayton and Alan Combe remain on the sidelines. Dayton is likely to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury while Combe is still to return from summer hernia surgery. Kilmarnock manager Mixu Paatelainen has called for officials to be given "breathing space" after a recent backlash over high-profile penalty decisions. Paatelainen played down two major spot-kick rulings after his side's 2-1 defeat by Inverness at the weekend, both of which went against his team. And he believes piling the pressure on referees is self-defeating. The former Hibs manager said: "I think referees should be given the breathing space. If there is too much pressure on referees before matches or after matches, they will not approach matches in a relaxed mood, a mood that enables them to perform to the best of their ability. If it goes to the ridiculous stuff in the papers today, that's bang out of order, that shouldn't happen. Of course they feel pressure, because their decisions quite often decide matches. So it is a very important job and it's very important that all officials are relaxed." |
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