The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Lichties boast key men for trip west
Arbroath boss Dick Campbell has welcomed the return of three key players to his squad ahead of the trip to Morton.
Jack Hamilton, Chris Hamilton and Liam Henderson are all back in contention as the league leaders aim to extend their stay at the top.
One player who won’t be available is Nicky Low. The 30-year-old midfielder is still nursing a recurring ligament issue and is likely to be out for another week.
The returning trio, though, will provide a boost to the squad who had to fight for their point against bottom side Queen of the South last weekend.
“Both Hamiltons are available and Liam Henderson is available so we have three out of the four who were unavailable least week,” Campbell told Courier Sport.
“I’ll just need to make a decision on what shape I play and who I play.
“I don’t go along with what people think that it was a bad result last weekend. It was a good result.”
The Lichties are set for a sizeable backing at Cappielow with a number of fans set to make the 240mile round trip to see their side in action.
Campbell is appreciative of the support but warns that his side face stiff competition from The Ton.
Arbroath are unbeaten against Morton this season and their last meeting saw them climb to the top of the table.
But since then, Dougie Imrie has taken charge and the side have only lost one league game in eight – earning him the title of manager of the month for January.
Campbell said: “It’s fascinating to take busloads of supporters. We’ll have a couple of hundred with us.
“Morton are going really well. Dougie has taken 17 points out of 20.
“I don’t expect anything else other than a really tough game.
“You start the game looking for three points.
“But the main aim is not to get beat.”
Meanwhile Kilmarnock midfielder Blair Alston is convinced the Lichties’ title rivals men are coming good at just the right time – with a massive helping hand from Kyle Lafferty.
They followed up that recent 2-1 win against Dunfermline with a 3-0 victory over Raith Rovers last weekend to move level with league leaders Arbroath on points.
They will be desperate to make it a Fife hat-trick when they travel to take on Dunfermline again this afternoon with top spot in their sights.
Former Rangers and Hearts striker Lafferty has been key to Killie’s revival in the last fortnight, bagging doubles in both wins to take his total to five in five outings since signing last month, and Alston is certain there are positive signs for his club.
Fifer Alston, who attended Inverkeithing High School, added: “Kyle is massively important to the team – anyone who scores goals like him is important.
“We are blessed with a few players who can score goals, to be fair, but Kyle especially is great. Hopefully he can carry on and score a few more.
“I think it’s all coming together at the right time.
“Obviously with new personnel it’s hard to gel straight away. We have a lot of players with different styles and obviously the manager has different ideas.
“We maybe haven’t hit the heights we’d like, certainly not every week, so hopefully now it’ll be the start of what we’d like. There is no point in getting good results and then wasting them, so hopefully we can get the three points.”