Dundee United's Nadir Ciftci can face Kilmarnock Perhaps as a result of that, Kilmarnock winger Chris Johnston claims that the Ayrshire club are more concerned with preventing United from going on a teenage rampage, with playmaker Ryan Gauld, who has already attracted attention from England and abroad, pinpointed as the major threat. "It was no surprise to me that he has been doing so well," said Johnston. You could always see the ability that he's got and the way he gets the ball in tight areas. His passing is great and he deserves all the hype he is getting just now. I didn't play against him that much when I was younger. But when you see how he has come on last season - and then taken his progress in his stride - he deserves all the praise he gets. He's getting a run of games and he's got the confidence to show what he's got. I think that's the most important thing for a young player breaking through - the confidence to go and express yourself and he is certainly playing with a lot of freedom. When your team is winning most of the time it seems easy to just keep going and going but we'll be trying to stop that by getting a result against them. United manager Jackie McNamara has called on referees to offer more protection for Gauld, whom he believes has been singled out for overly rough treatment by opposing teams, but Johnston claims that the prodigy should be proud to be pummelled. "If you are getting kicked about all the time it's a compliment," he said. When Ryan is getting booted he just gets up and gets on with it. When defenders do that it just tells me that they're doing it because they can't get the ball off you. Obviously, you don't went to get kicked around the place but it's part of the game and it is definitely a compliment - and once it gets them booked then they have to stand off a bit. Some players want to kick you to show that you're in a game but if you keep going at them again and again then they've eventually got to back off a bit and that gives you a bit more freedom. Kilmarnock will have defender Darren Barr and midfielder Jackson Irvine available after suspension. Hibernian forward Rowan Vine has received a censure from the Scottish FA following an "offensive" tweet to Neil Lennon. Vine referred to an incident in a Newcastle versus Leicester game in 1998 when Alan Shearer was accused of kicking Lennon in the head, although Vine did apologise.