KILMARNOCK meet Hearts for the second time this season at Rugby Park this afternoon, having already shocked Robbie Neilson’s men by beating them 1-0 at Tynecastle in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup.
The Edinburgh club come into this encounter on the back of two traumatic home defeats, having been thrashed 4-0 by Rangers last weekend and then trounced 3-0 by Fiorentina in Thursday’s Europa Conference League group match, a result which flattered the hosts.
This afternoon they will face a Kilmarnock side rejuvenated by the 2-1 victory over St Johnstone on Wednesday which catapulted them out of the relegation places and ready to propel themselves further up the table.
Centre-back Chris Stokes is desperate to make up for lost time, having made his first appearance of the season in that win, following a lengthy recovery from a hamstring injury which delayed his entry into football at the highest level.
He was already 30 when then manager Tommy Wright lured him to Rugby Park from Forest Green Rovers immediately following Kilmarnock’s relegation from the top tier. He skippered them to the Championship title in his debut season, only to tumble at the final hurdle.
“Tearing my hamstring in the final game of last season was a killer,” he said.
“It was tough, after doing all the hard work to win promotion, to then sit on the sidelines for as long as I did instead of enjoying the fruits of that.
“That’s why I came to Scotland and why I moved my family up here. I wanted to play in the Premiership but I’d done the same thing in a cup tie against Hibs earlier in that campaign so I had to spend the summer getting myself right, getting my strength back up.
“When you have that injury twice you need to be over-cautious and the recovery took longer than I thought because I tried to come back too quickly. It was frustrating because everything seemed right but it wasn’t.
“Now I feel fine, though: I feel strong and I’m ready to make a contribution. Hamstrings take a little bit longer when you’re older.
“The previous manager, Tommy Wright, made me captain last season but then the injury saw me lose it and Alan Power’s done a brilliant job with the armband and we’re all behind him as a group.”
Stokes had plied his trade in England’s lower leagues before relocating to Ayrshire but he admits that he had never given Scottish football a moment’s thought until he became part of it.
“A lot of players who haven’t seen it or experienced it don’t realise what it’s about and look down their nose a bit at it,” he added. “I didn’t watch it until I was up here and now I watch a lot of the games.
“I probably wouldn’t have watched Hearts v Fiorentina on Thursday night if I wasn’t playing up here, but I did this time and Scottish football is a lot better than what I thought it was.
“My good friend, the winger Elliot Frear, was actually at Hearts and Motherwell: I’m good friends with Elliot. He’s one I spoke to a lot about coming up here. I also know Andy Rose, who played at Motherwell, too.
“The Championship was a lot tougher than I imagined. There’s a lot of good sides in that division - it was hard to get out of that league. Elliot, who found that with Hearts, told me it’s not as easy as you might think and I definitely found that for myself.”
