Stuart Findlay set to be out until March after surgery on ligament injury

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes has confirmed Stuart Findlay will probably be out until the end of March after surgery to repair severe ligament damage.

The 29-year-old defender, on loan from Oxford, was taken off on a stretcher in the first half of Killie’s 3-2 William Hill Premiership defeat by Dundee at Dens Park earlier in the month.

The Rugby Park boss is likely go into the market when the January transfer window opens for a replacement centre-back.

McInnes said: “Stuart is out for the best part of three to four months. He had an operation in London last week.

“I think, obviously, with the fixtures coming up, there’s a lot of games.

“I think we’ve just about got enough at the minute in that sense.

“But with Stuart probably out to the end of March that’s a long time away, and he’s such an influential defender, we probably will look to try and add to the squad in January.

“What becomes a priority is normally what the fall-out is after these December games. What’s the priority?

“But I would say, if this was the first day of window opening, then maybe defensively is an area where we would look to try and bring in somebody.”

By quirk of fixtures, Kilmarnock face Dundee again on Saturday, this time at home, and McInnes will be without midfielder Liam Donnelly who is suspended.

The Irishman received Killie’s sixth red card of the season in the 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park last weekend.

Donnelly was shown a second yellow in the closing stages for a late challenge on Drey Wright.

McInnes said: “I don’t believe we are an overly-excessive, physical team, apart from one off the ball (incident), Joe Wright at St Mirren, I think we’ve been punished to the full extreme with a lot of the red cards.

“I don’t believe we have a discipline problem, but the amount of red cards would suggest otherwise.

“I think I’ve got to be really careful, all managers, when players get booked.

“Robbie Deas gets booked in the first half last Saturday . He wins the ball clear as day in front of me, the referee books him.

“And we’re thinking, maybe we need to get Deasy off here, because, we’re seeing players getting cautioned for two tackles far too often.

“I do think the bar has been set so low this season. I don’t know why that is, but we’re not seeing the same offence being consistently (punished).

“It’s dependent on the referee you get. It’s not the offence.

“I have looked at games with similar things that we’ve been punished for every other weekend, and I don’t see the same yellow card offence for these ones.

“So it’s depending what referee you get a lot of time not what offence you make.”