Jefferies hopes to find a bargain

He will spend next month scouring the transfer market for a player who will bolster his injury-depleted squad without blowing the budget. Jefferies struck it lucky in August when he snapped up free agent Fernandez, who was one of a number of players freshly released by Dundee United. The former Celtic and Livingston striker, 30, proved an instant hit at Rugby Park but he was ruled out for the rest of the season with cruciate ligament damage just two months into the campaign. Jefferies has already failed in a bid to sign evergreen striker Craig Brewster, with the 40-year-old opting to join SPL rivals Aberdeen instead. But the Killie boss refuses to give up hope. "Because of the injury situation, we would be looking to do something during the window," he said. "But we don't have massive resources and we certainly can't afford to buy anyone. "It's difficult to find anyone because it's a bad time of year and teams are reluctant to let their best players go. "We have enquired about one or two players but they are out of our wage bracket. "What we need is another player like David Fernandez - he came in and really changed things for us and it was just unfortunate he got injured." Garry Hay is free from suspension for Saturday's SPL clash with Hearts and Peter Leven could be back in contention after recovering from a virus. But David Lilley joins an injury list which already includes Fernandez and Frazer Wright, while Colin Nish is likely to miss out on the visit of the Jambos through illness. Jefferies admits the queue for the treatment room means his resources will be stretched to the limit this weekend. He said: "You always hope to have your strongest squad available but we have had to make four or five changes in games recently. "It's not easy when you have a small squad and you have to bring boys in who haven't played much. "We just have to get on with it and hope the players who come in make the most of the opportunity." In contrast, Hearts' rotation policy saw head coach Valdas Ivanauskas make seven changes for the Boxing Day derby against Hibernian. But Jefferies insists his players are confident of bouncing back from defeats against Motherwell and Aberdeen to record their second win of the season over Hearts, following their 2-0 triumph at Tynecastle. He said: "Hearts are fortunate to be in the position where they can make a lot of changes. "But it was a great game against them at Tynecastle and we are looking for the same again. "We are at home and it's a game we need to win."