Kenny Deuchar is a practising doctor, so perhaps the Gretna striker has unwittingly revealed his own diagnosis as to whether the troubled club can survive in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League?

The 27-year-old is lining up a move for himself and could be away before the last rites have even been read for poor Gretna When Real come calling, a player’s head is easily turned. In Deuchar’s case, it not Madrid but the Major League Soccer. Real Salt Lake want Deuchar to move to the United States, after seeing him score twice in last Sunday’s 4-2 defeat by Rangers. Defeat tonight at home to Kilmarnock would leave Gretna — in football terms — pronounced dead, stranded 15 points adrift of their visitors.

The Fir Park encounter is crucial for Gretna, who lost their manager, David Irons, last week, while players went unpaid after the hospital admission of the owner, Brooks Mileson, who is seriously ill. If they won and narrowed the gap to nine points, there might be just a flicker of life and Deuchar would be key to that fight to stay up.

However, Real Salt Lake, the MLS club who have an affiliation with Real Madrid, have offered Deuchar the chance to work in a local medical centre as well. According to Gretna’s chief executive, Graeme Muir, Deuchar is seriously considering a switch to America.

“There has been a lot of interest in Kenny and while we would not like to see him go, he is seriously considering this move,” Muir said. “They have offered him a contract and the added attraction is that he could also work as a doctor over there. It’s a big decision.”

An even bigger problem than the points deficit for the bottom club is the state of the Fir Park pitch. It will require a pitch inspection this morning and, according to Muir, the surface — which is used by Gretna and Motherwell — has returned to a state similar to its alarming condition during much of January. “It’s taken a lot of heavy rain so we will see how it looks in the morning,” Muir said.

The chief executive believes that Mick Wadsworth, the director of football who has become caretaker manager following Irons’s departure for Morton, can lead the side to a positive result. “It’s a big game for us but I think Mick is able to get the best out of them,” he said. “I felt on Sunday, in the second half in particular, we played very well. It was a very creditable performance at Ibrox considering we have a very young side and the week from hell that we went through.

“We have got through it and we survived despite certain people saying this time last week that we were finished. There is a reality now about what we need to do to be a viable club and I think Mick has brought a lot of that with him.”

Kilmarnock come to Fir Park knowing they can effectively kill off Gretna’s hopes. A 3-1 win against Aberdeen on Sunday allowed Jim Jefferies’ team to pull 12 points clear but the Kilmarnock manager does not expect a game for the purists, given the state of the Fir Park pitch.

“It’s not the best of pitches and I don’t think it can take too much, given that on Saturday [when Motherwell played Hearts] it was like a quagmire through the middle,” he said. “To be fair to Gretna, like ourselves they like to get the ball down and pass it.

“Sometimes on a pitch like that you can get the wee break of a ball or a misplaced pass. We’ve just got to do the right things and not take any chances in bad areas. It’s all about winning. No matter how bad you play you can always blame that on the pitch.”

In the other Premier League games, third-placed Motherwell head to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen, while fourth-placed Dundee United host St Mirren, who won at Tannadice in the Scottish Cup just two weeks ago. Falkirk will play Hibernian at home.