Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes hopes Kyle Magennis’ injury is not serious

Derek McInnes hopes the injury sustained by Kilmarnock midfielder Kyle Magennis in the 1-0 defeat against Ross County is not as bad as first feared.

Shortly after coming on as a substitute, the 26-year-old went down holding his knee without being challenged.

Even after going off the pitch, he was struggling to put weight on the leg and having been plagued with injury issues over the last five years, it would be easy to fear the worst.

McInnes was left hoping the prognosis would not add a serious injury to what had already been a disappointing afternoon in the Highlands.

“I would hate to speculate too much until we get that looked at properly, but he has damaged his knee,” McInnes said of the issue.

“I thought he was outstanding against Rangers midweek, but with his history we thought his best impact would be from the bench.

“Unfortunately, he just looks as if he has twisted his knee and those are always the ones you worry about. Hopefully he’s lucky because he hasn’t had much luck in injuries.

“A few boys were really leggy on Friday so we took that into consideration for the starting team, but we finished really strongly.

“We should have won the game. It has been a tough week. We were close against Aberdeen, against Rangers and again today.

“We just have to pull ourselves together and hopefully on having a game next week will let us get a couple of players back.”

Meanwhile, Ross County boss Don Cowie was delighted his squad found a way to win even when under pressure for large parts of the match.

With a big defensive effort needed, he was pleased to see the players on the pitch back up what he believed they were capable of.

“When we recruit players, I do a lot of homework,” he stressed.

“We want players who recognise what they are coming into and embrace the challenge of being a Ross County player.

“Those are the things I expect, but to see it is pleasing and I’m sure the players will be feeling good about themselves.

“I’m sure Derek will be disappointed. On another day, they would have taken some of their opportunities, but luckily for us they didn’t.

“At this stage of the season it doesn’t really matter how you win. We got another clean sheet, so I’m delighted to get another win.”