Kilmarnock striker Danny Whitehall hopes to further cement his claims for a new contract against St Mirren on Saturday.
The 25-year-old’s future is up in the air but he boosted his prospects by having a hand in the opening goal and sealing victory from the spot in Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Motherwell.
Liverpool-born Whitehall was joined in Scotland by his American fiancee after signing for Killie in the summer but starts have been limited.
However, his first Premiership goal added to two strikes in the Betfred Cup and the former Maidenhead player is now hoping to get another chance to persuade Alex Dyer to keep him on.
“It’s been a little bit frustrating for me,” he said. “Everyone wants to play and the gaffer picks the team that he thinks will do the best for that particular game.
“Thankfully, my name was in his head for the game at Motherwell and it was nice to make a start and nice to score and contribute to the win.
“It’s come at a good time with my contract up. Maybe that was part of the gaffer’s thinking for playing me – to see if I was worth it or not.
“But it’s less about me and more about the team after that performance. Three points was what we needed.”
On new contract hopes, he said: “There’s nothing really concrete yet. I think it’s up on January 10 or something like that.
“I’d be keen to get it sorted. It’s up to the gaffer and people on the board.
“But I am very happy here, my fiancee has moved from America to live with me over here.
“We like it in Kilmarnock and if we stay, we stay. If we go somewhere else, so be it.
“She’s from Nebraska, I met her when I was out there on my scholarship. She was on the volleyball team.
“I think the English accent helped that one. She’s found a volleyball team here and played a bit on Troon beach for them. She was one of the better players.
“But unfortunately, because of all the Covid stuff going on, there was no indoor season for her so that’s not been happening.
“To be fair, that’s not been easy for her. So I’ve got a long-term debt to her for this.
“I’ve said that if I wasn’t playing football I’d be back over in America with her. So once we’re done here, I think we will travel back and live over there when we’re older.
“But for the moment we’d like to stay here, she quite likes it too, and if we can stay longer then so be it.”
