Craig Sibbald is adamant Dundee United will not use Kilmarnock’s artificial turf as an excuse when they visit Rugby Park on Wednesday.
The juxtaposition between Killie’s home and away form is remarkable this term, with Derek McInnes’ men picking up 18 of their 20 Premiership points on their own patch.
They are fresh from a 3-0 hammering at Ross County.
Conversely, they have only lost three league games at home, against Celtic, Rangers and Livingston.
It could be surmised from those statistics that Killie benefit from playing on a 4G surface, but Sibbald — no stranger to plastic pitches after a decade turning out for Falkirk and Livi — has played down the impact.
“I wouldn’t say it (Killie’s pitch) is an advantage,” said Sibbald. “We train on artificial surfaces sometimes so there will be NO excuses.
“Everyone is used to it, nowadays.
“It’s always going to be a dogfight there. Kilmarnock get right in your face, so we’ll be prepared for that.
“Hopefully we can get our foot on the ball and create chances.”
Focus
Killie and United are among a cluster of FOUR teams all locked on 20 as a fraught fight for survival heats up.
And Sibbald reckons the fixture is much bigger for the Tangerines than Sunday’s high-profile showdown with Celtic.
It may not be “must win” territory for either side, but it does feel “must not lose”.
“Wednesday is huge,” said Sibbald. “We can take positives from the Celtic game on Sunday; see what we did right and what we did wrong.
“But ultimately Wednesday is a bigger game. It’s obviously hard against Celtic, whereas hopefully we can impose our style of play on the game on Wednesday — and get the win.
“It’s tight at the bottom but we just need to focus on ourselves, get better each week and take us back up the table.”
Birighitti praise
Meanwhile, United head coach Liam Fox is adamant there were numerous factors that contributed to Celtic’s crucial opener at Tannadice at the weekend.
Terrors goalkeeper Mark Birighitti was completely wrong-footed by Aaron Mooy’s deep cross, allowing Jota to head home at the back post. The Hoops subsequently cruised to a 2-0 win.
It was a rare error during an otherwise impressive showing from the Aussie stopper, superbly thwarting Jota and Kyogo in the first period.
“We didn’t stop the cross, firstly,” rued Fox. “I’ve not spoken to him but maybe Mark (Birighitti) just misjudged it a bit.
“The wind might have played a part as well, because it was bad. We also dropped the runner for the header. So there were three things, right there. It’s not just on Mark.
“Mark made some good saves. He’s in a much better place. We will take it on the chin and be ready for Wednesday.”
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