Dundee United striker Nadir Ciftci has vowed to give everything against Kilmarnock in the league today before serving a Scottish Cup suspension.
The Turkish frontman is banned for the fourth round clash with Motherwell at Fir Park in a week’s time, which will just add to the stop-start nature of his season.
So after returning from the international break today to face Killie he will sit on the sidelines again.
That doesn’t help him or the team, who also have striker Mario Bilate injured and ruled out of both this game and the meeting with the Steelmen.
However, Ciftci is determined to make most of the Killie clash as the Tangerines aim to hang around the top end of the Premiership table.
“It’s not the best thing for me to be suspended but I’ve just got to deal with it,” he said.
“I will give everything I have against Kilmarnock and then cheer the boys on in the cup game at Motherwell.”
Killie and Well have provided United with a couple of their lowest points of the season so far.
Both of those Friday night fixtures have ended in defeat, with the 2-0 setback in Ayrshire in early October even more disappointing than the 1-0 loss in Lanarkshire last time out.
Ciftci suffered a particularly frustrating night at Rugby Park and let his irritation show in his play and body language.
Now, though, the likeable Turk is determined to enjoy his football in front of a home crowd this afternoon.
“I got home during the international break and saw the family but now it’s back to reality,” he said.
“I had a little hamstring trouble before the break but I feel fit again now.
“I am really fresh and ready to go.”
As for that testing time on Killie’s artificial surface, Ciftci added: “Of course it’s frustrating when things don’t go for you, like what happened for me at Kilmarnock, but I hope to be ready and challenging when we play them again.
“That was a bad night.
“I don’t think any footballers fancy that pitch but it’s not an excuse.
“We know what happened but we are playing at home now and I think we played well against Motherwell, even if the result wasn’t the best.
“If we play like we did that night at Motherwell but take our chances then I am sure we will be all right against Kilmarnock.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.
“Even the Motherwell game was frustrating for us, though, because we played well as a team but we didn’t have anything to show for it.
“But we showed we can play good football but there’s even more to come from us.
“Hopefully, we show it against Kilmarnock this time.
“We have proven that we can play well and get the good results to get up to the top of the league so there is no reason why we can’t get back there.”
As well as Bilate, the Tangerines will be without midfielder John Rankin after he injured his knee last time out against Motherwell.