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ST MIRREN midfielder Greg Tansey serves the second of a two-game ban.
Brad Lyons (hip) and Kyle McAllister (knock) are back in training while Gary MacKenzie is a doubt.
But the game comes too early for Kyle Magennis after his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Killie are missing Scott Boyd (knee) but Alex Bruce, Youssouf Mulumbu and Aaron Tshibola could shake
off knocks. ST MIRREN new boy Mihai Popescu admits punters back home threatened to give him a Bucharest battering if he dared to lose a derby for Dinamo. But the keyboard warriors were always star-struck when they actually met him and ended up asking for his jersey. Having been brought up on their fierce rivalry between Dinamo and Steaua Bucharest, the defender now finds himself part of a Scottish game being shamed by idiotic acts of violence from supporters. Popescu reckons punters in Scotland are more passionate than the ones in his homeland because they pack out the stadiums for every game – not just the big derbies. But he’s glad the Dinamo fans were all talk and no action when he was a target for abuse back home. The 25-year-old, who joined the Buddies in January, said: “I played for Dinamo and it was unbelievable at times. “The Romanian fans would send you messages on Instagram or Facebook when it came to the derby. “They would say stuff like, ‘If you don’t win we will meet with you on the street and fight with you’. But this didn’t happen, it was just sending a message. “When they met you on the street they usually said, ‘Can you give me your jersey?’ “Dinamo are the biggest club in Romania, with Steaua, and the third team in the city is Rapid Bucharest. Dinamo have good fans, unbelievable fans.
“They didn’t care if you lost against another team but when you played in the derby you needed to win.
“They would say, ‘We don’t care about this team but you need to win this f ****** derby!’
“It would be like that all the BY ANTHONY HAGGERTY time. That’s why I like it here in Scotland – the fans and support is unbelievable.
“All the time, no matter the games, no matter the weather, they come to the stadium.
“In Romania the supporters come just for the important games, for the derbies.
“When I played against Celtic and Rangers and St Mirren were bottom of the league the stadium was still full.
“In Romania if the top team plays against the bottom side then only 1000 to 2000 supporters would be in the stadium. This is not good for our football.
“When you play the derby the crowd is 30,000 but that is only for one or two games a year.”
The stopper insists being in a relegation scrap with St Mirren is a breeze compared to the pressure of playing for Dinamo.
Which is why Popescu’s family gave their blessing for a move to Scotland after his three-and-a-half-year stint at Dinamo turned sour.
Despite being made captain for a brief spell, Popescu was then told he was free to find another club.
He said: “Now Dinamo are not in a good period. They have been in the bottom half of the league for the last two seasons.
“For the fans it’s not good because they want to fight for the championship all the time.
“This is a pressure for the players and it is not good for younger ones because they don’t have any experience.
“I have a little bit of experience but not too much as I have only played in Romania, I have never sampled football in another country until now. But my father watched all sorts of games back home. He knew things about Celtic and Rangers.
“So when I had this offer from St Mirren I started looking at the club on YouTube.
“My dad told me St Mirren were a good team with a good history in Scotland and it was a good plan to come here.
“It’s a good opportunity for me and after this maybe I could join a big team in Scotland or play in another country.
“I knew if I stayed in Romania I wouldn’t have played.
“The last coach at Dinamo made me captain in the final three games. Then we came back from holiday and he told me I needed to find a new club.
“He said it was his decision and it was best for me to find a new team.
“That’s when I spoke with my agent and the St Mirren opportunity came along.”
Now Popescu has set his sights on helping the Buddies save their top-flight skins as they chase a second consecutive Paisley win.
Last weekend’s moraleboosting 1-0 victory against Livingston moved Oran Kearney’s men to within a point of second-bottom Dundee.
So a win over Killie tonight would lift them off the bottom.
Popescu said: “I was happy to win against Livingston and hopefully that is just the start.
“The team know what we have to do against Kilmarnock.
“We need to make sure we take another three points.
“’We are determined to stay in this league and get the results which will see us moving up the Premiership table.”