Mcintyre keen to keep striker Boyce at Dingwall

KILMARNOCK

Sammon 10 pen

ROSS COUNTY

Boyce 42, 70

1

Ross County boss Jim Mcintyre issued a handsoff warning to potential suitors of top goalscorer Liam Boyce after his double secured a 2-1 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday.

The Northern Ireland striker has scored 24 goals this season, 23 of which have come in the league.

That form has not gone unnoticed, with Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibernian and several English Championship clubs reportedly interested in his services.

The 26-year-old has a year left on his deal at Dingwall and Mcintyre is not interested in losing his prized asset.

“It is part and parcel of football, he’s scoring goals and people are interested,” he said. “We’ve no interest in selling him, we want to retain Liam, but it’s football, we can’t predict what will happen.

“He’s under contract for another season so we look forward to working with him next season.”

On Boyce’s form, Mcintyre added: “He’s been fantastic. To get that amount of goals at a provincial club says a lot about him.

“He is a fantastic professional who works his socks off and is very conscientious about his job, and he deserves all the success and plaudits that are going his way.

“It would be a fantastic achievement if he finishes the top league goalscorer. I hope he gets that and it would be great if he could.”

Kilmarnock, meanwhile, face an anxious wait to find out the extent of the injury Greg Kiltie picked up against County.

The striker was carried off at half-time following an innocuous challenge, compounding a miserable season for the 20-yearold who had only returned from a six-month injury lay-off.

Interim boss Lee Mcculloch said: “He got driven to hospital, we don’t know yet [how bad it is]. When I went on there was a crack, just hopefully there is a wee bit of luck there. He’s had a horror season with injuries so fingers crossed he is OK.”