GREG Kiltie is enjoying match days at Kilmarnock again after enduring six months of helplessness through injury.

It was thought that the 20-year-old attacker would miss the rest of the season after having surgery on a tendon behind the knee in October.

However, he returned for the Ladbrokes Premiership match against Inverness at the beginning of the month then played against Rangers – only his 7th appearance of the season – before sitting out the trip to Celtic at the weekend.

Kiltie hopes to be back for the visit of Hearts to Rugby Park tonight night and is thankful that a “frustrating” time on the sidelines is over.

“It was not the season I exactly wanted but it is a positive to be back on the pitch,” said Kiltie.

“It was very difficult, trying to get your head round the fact that you are not able to be on the pitch with the boys for six months is not ideal to say the least.”

“It was never nice on match day, coming in to watch the boys knowing you have no input whatsoever on the pitch.

“Of course you can go in the dressing room and wish them all the best but not being on the pitch to be able to help them is honestly the worst thing ever.

“There was loads of games at Christmas to come and watch and I couldn’t be part of any of them.

“But there was the break in January and I could see the end. I started to run at the end of January and I was thinking I could get games before the end of the season so that helped a lot.

“I couldn’t ask for a better rehab. I would love to play every game now but I have been out for six months so it is going to be hard to get my body back into it.

“I just look to play as many games as possible, take care of myself and look forward to next season.”

Partick Thistle beat Kilmarnock to a top-six spot at the weekend with a 1-0 home win over Motherwell.

Killie are in seventh, nine points ahead of bottom side Inverness with six fixtures remaining but Kiltie is not taking safety for granted.

He said: “You are never safe until you are mathematically but a victory would be a step in the right direction.

“Our results have been pretty positive.

“Our aim is always top six. A lot of people wrote us off at the beginning of the season but our aim was always top six.

“It is a pity that we couldn’t make it and obviously we now need to focus on finishing seventh.”