SCOTT ROBINSON has suffered a nightmare with injuries during his second spell at Kilmarnock.

Hamstring troubles ruled him out for much of the first-half of last season, while an awkward heel problem has seen him out of action since Derek McInnes' first game in charge of the club back in January.

The ex-Livingston striker had returned in good condition for the initial part of Killie’s pre-season.

However, after week one, he suffered a setback and has this week undergone a procedure in a bid to curtail his injury woes.

In the mean time, Robinson has been kept busy. McInnes has been receiving match reports on future opposition from the former Hearts man.

He would rather have the attacker part of his first team squad, but with at least another three months out on the sidelines, Robinson is still proving useful to the Ayrshire club.

McInnes said: “We told him to go on his holidays as there was very little he could do towards the end of the season.

“So he was in right through the summer working so he would be ready for that first week proper of pre-season at Largs.

“You could see had been working and was doing brilliantly. We played an 11 vs 11 practice match and he scored two goals, he was everything I remembered him to be and I hoped he’d be. He was like a new signing.

“On the second day back from Largs, he over stretched and felt similar pain to what he was getting. It’s a strange injury. Nervy.

“He’s been to two or three specialists now, we’re trying to get various opinions and what we want to do is avoid a big operation which would do no-one any good.

“So he’s gone in for a procedure today [Thu] that maybe allows him to maybe be in-between doing nothing and resting and the big operation that doesn’t give you any guarantees either.

“I’ve actually got him out doing games and reports for me. He did a report on Stenhousemuir for me, one on Rangers and he’ll do Hearts against Ross County for me on Saturday.

“I just felt we needed to utilise him because there is nothing worse for an injured player, I’ve had injuries myself, and you come in every day and 20 people ask you the same thing about how it’s going and how it’s feeling. It can be quite demoralising repeating yourself every day and not really getting anywhere.

“I spoke with him and wanted to give him a real purpose. He’s got fitness work he can still do when he’s in with the players, but I’m getting him into doing match reports and I need to say they are very good and I’m impressed with what he did with a couple of his reports.

“It’s an important role for us to have that evidence to back up when we watch games. At least he has some sort of purpose and it’s something he’s really enjoying.

“We’re paying him to score goals, not to do match reports, but in the meantime, it’s a decent thing to be doing.”

McInnes also revealed that Zach Hemming will be out for at least two-months, with the goalkeeper returning to Middlesbrough for his initial recovery.

There is good news though, with Kyle Lafferty, Fraser Murray and Liam Donnelly all okay to play against Dundee United tomorrow. Blair Alston and Chris Stokes have made progress but aren’t quite ready.

Killie – who will be captained by Alan Power this season – will unveil the Championship flag prior to the game.

And McInnes can’t wait to see his team back in Scotland’s top flight. He added: I think it’s important to look at the fact that we’re away to Rangers and then at home to Celtic in our next two games so it’s vital that we get something from the United match, which we obviously want to win.

“We’ve set targets for how many home games we want to win this season. When I came here in January there was a pattern of results at Rugby Park and, if that had continued, we wouldn’t have won the league.

“I had a good record with Aberdeen on this ground but I can remember a time when nobody looked forward to coming here. It was a horrible fixture and a tough day’s work and we want to bring that back – we don’t want to be pushed about and shunted to the side.

“We want to be organised and confident enough to tap into the atmosphere from the crowd. There will be a huge difference between last weekend against Stenhousemuir and United on Saturday.

“This is an opportunity we should relish – to take that first all-important three points off a good team. United will see Kilmarnock away as a chance for them to pick up their first win but, while we’ll look at opponents’ strengths and weaknesses, we need to back ourselves to deal with the situation.

“I’ve worked with the players for a long time now and I feel there’s a trust there, a real level of competitiveness. They love their work and I’m really looking forward to see that against United.”