Kilmarnock striker Colin Nish has rejected a new contract offer.
The 26-year-old former Dunfermline Athletic player, who joined Killie in 2003, has started this season with four goals in his opening 11 appearances.
Killie manager Jim Jefferies confirmed: "He has knocked back our offer. That's the world we live in now and players can do that. It might be the case that he will change his mind or decide to stay if no offers come in."
Nish netted 14 times last season for the Rugby park outfit.
Kilmarnock have lost two of their prolific scorers, Kris Boyd and Steven Naismith, to Rangers in the last two seasons.
The Ayrshire club were keen to secure Nish beyond the end of his current contract, which expires at the end of the season.
06 October 2007
Hibernian sprung a surprise with a 1-0 win away at Rangers to leapfrog the Old Firm side and go top of the SPL table.
Hibs' victory came courtesy of David Murphy who struck on the hour mark to give his side all three points and a place at the top.
Dundee United were 1-0 victors over Motherwell – a result which moves them up to fourth in the table.
The two sides started the day equal on points but The Tangerines are now three better off after Darren Dods hit the net with just over ten minutes remaining.
Hearts were the day's biggest victors after they beat Falkirk 4-2 at Tynecastle.
Andrius Ksanavicius, Marius Zaliukas, Andrius Velicka and Christian Nade gave the hosts a four-goal advantage but Graham Barrett and Pedro Moutinho both got their names on the scoresheet in the last five minutes to give the scoreline a degree of respectability.
Abime Koudou scored in the first minute of the 2-2 draw between Kilmarnock at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
A Simon Ford own goal pulled Inverness level but Colin Nish looked to have given the hosts the win before Don Cowie struck to give Falkirk a share of the spoils.
02 October 2007
Referee Stuart Dougal has admitted that he made an error in awarding Hibernian a penalty during the Edinburgh side's 4-1 victory over Kilmarnock.
Clayton Donaldson won the first of his two spot kicks on Saturday after a challenge by Frazer Wright.
And, on the Scottish FA's Whistleblower site, Dougal said that, after reviewing television evidence, it should not have been given as a foul.
Television pictures clearly showed that Wright played the ball first.
However, the referee's admission does not affect the yellow card shown to the Kilmarnock defender during the Scottish Premier League game.
Dougal said: "I was approaching play from behind and saw Mr Wright slide tackle his opponent. From my angle, it appeared as if he had played through the opponent, thus fouling him, to win the ball and I was sure of my thoughts. However, after viewing the incident on TV, I can see that Mr Wright played the ball cleanly first just before there was contact with the attacker. People will question why the stand side assistant referee didn't get involved, but he could not see if there had been initial illegal contact. We were using radio communication equipment with immediate contact."
The penalty, scored by Donaldson on his way to a hat-trick, was awarded at a time when Hibs were 1-0 ahead.
"Making decisions is mainly down to angles and, on this occasion, while we were both in the recognised positions for this type of move, our angles were such that we were not best placed to see the incident as clearly as was shown on TV," added Dougal.
01 October 2007
Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies blamed his side's lengthy injury list for Saturday's heavy defeat at Hibernian.
Killie have virtually an entire team missing because of various injuries and Ryan O'Leary was forced to play at Easter Road with a broken nose.
Jefferies said: "Hibs deserved to win the way they did, but it was always going to be a tough game coming here with the guys we have out. The second goal killed us and I don't think anybody in the ground thought it was ever a penalty. John Collins and Tommy Craig looked at me, shook their heads and didn't think it was a penalty. The player fouled said to Frazer Wright he didn't think it was a penalty. But the only one that matters in the ground is (referee) Stuart Dougal and he's seen something, yet different from everyone else in the ground. The linesmen didn't put up his flag, so it was totally the referee's decision. But if you say too much you get into trouble. It came at a bad time and we feel hard done by, but when things are going against you, it didn't surprise me."
01 October 2007
Hibernian manager John Collins was full of praise for hat-trick hero Clayton Donaldson after beating Kilmarnock.
"He did ever so well," Collins told BBC Sport after the 4-1 win. "His movement was great and he held the ball up well for others to run on to. He scored three but he could have had a few more goals. He's had to be very patient and wait for his chance but he's getting stronger and fitter and his confidence is growing."
Donaldson fired Hibs ahead early on with a sharp finish and converted two of the three penalties awarded by referee Stuart Dougal.
Alan Combe saved the second of Donaldson's penalty attempts and also made great stops to deny Rob Jones and Steven Fletcher.
"Their keeper was superb and we still managed to score four," added Collins, who was also pleased with the SPL debut of teenager central defender Darren McCormack.
"That is probably the best we've been this season. We controlled the game and bossed the opposition. We've maybe been too quick to get forward in previous games but today we really stretched Kilmarnock, moving the ball from side to side."
