'Got the confidence': Kilmarnock manager makes honest admission ahead of Rangers clash

Derek McInnes is eager to keep his side’s unbeaten streak ticking over when they face Rangers this weekend. Kilmarnock will host the Light Blues at Rugby Park on Sunday in their first Scottish Premiership match back from international break.

Killie are currently ninth in the table but haven’t lost a game since Aberdeen on August 25th. They will enter the Rangers clash off the back of a 3-2 win over Dundee, hoping to extend their unbeaten run. However, McInnes has admitted his side have been drawing ‘too many’ of their fixtures recently and the 53-year-old wants to improve on the amount of goals they’ve been conceding as well.

Reflecting on the Dundee win, McInnes told Sky Sports Scotland: “The manner in which we won the game was always pleasing, it was a big moment for us. I think it was important that we got a win — we’re unbeaten in five but there has been too many draws within that run. We are conceding too many goals at the minute, I think we’re giving up too many opportunities, so we’ve spoke about that.

“We scored eight goals in the last three games, so it feels as though we’re up and running in that sense. I think in general we need to get a bit tighter with our work.”

Rangers are pushing to close the gap on Celtic and Aberdeen above them in the table, who have both started the season perfectly. The duo have a five-point buffer over the Gers, who beat St Johnstone last time out but were reduced to ten men after Ianis Hagi was given his marching orders.

Despite Kilmarnock securing just one Premiership win so far this season, McInnes is ‘confident’ his side can produce a positive result this weekend.

“We’re only a point less off than we were this time last year, and that was with beating Rangers in the first game of the season. We won the game 1-0, it was a tight game, we were very compact, we were organised, we defended brilliantly as a team.

“We’ve got to carry a fight, we’ve got to show personality and believe we can win the game. And the fact of the matter is, apart from the St Johnstone game when we went down to ten men in the first 15 minutes, only Rangers and Celtic have beaten us here since December 2nd last year. We feel we’re a team that can get results at home.

“We’ve got the confidence that we can get results done here. Rangers obviously test you because they’ve got good individual players that given space, they can exploit that. So we’re mindful of the talent Rangers have.”