Hi, to make life easier for myself I am using vQmod to make any changes to my website to save having too many issues when upgrading in the future, I have created a few so know how to do them but I am having problems getting the header in catalog/view/theme/shoppica/template/common/header.tpl to play ball as I want to remove the instance of the checkout so that the shopping cart is the only way through to maximize the chances of people using vouchers and coupons etc.
There are no errors appearing so I know the coding I have put points to the right place and highlights what I want to remove but it still appears.

This is the contents of my xml file.

<modification>
  <id>Remove Checkout link from Homepage</id>
  <version>1.0</version>
  <vqmver>2.1.6</vqmver>
  <author>klimskady</author>
  
  <file name="catalog/view/theme/shoppica/template/common">
    <operation>
      <search position="replace"><![CDATA[<li><a href="<?php echo $checkout; ?>"><?php echo $text_checkout; ?></a></li>]]></search>
       <add>
               <![CDATA[ ]]>
            </add>
    </operation>
  </file>
</modification>

Thanks.