Savour Stevie wonder

GARY DICKER has urged every Kilmarnock player to enjoy working under Stevie Clarke while they still can.

The Irishman has watched the former West Brom boss and Chelsea star kickstart a Rugby Park revolution with just one defeat in their last 17 games.

Clarke has also masterminded an incredible 10-match unbeaten home run which has hoisted Kilmarnock into the top five and steered them into the Scottish Cup quarter-final.

Not bad for a team that won just four games at Rugby Park last season.

And Dicker insists the Killie squad should drink it all in as they may never get the chance to work with such a quality manager again.

The 31-year-old said: “You can tell the manager has great experience. He has a rant and a rave when he needs to but he’s mainly a calming influence, especially on the young boys.

“I keep telling them to let as much of his knowledge soak in as they can and enjoy every minute working with him. They might never get a chance to work with anyone as good as him in the rest of their careers.

“We’re lucky to have the chance to work with someone who has already worked with some of the best players and managers in the world.

“People forget his playing career. You don’t spend that length of time at Chelsea by being average.

“You have to give him and his assistant Alex Dyer so much credit for what has happened here.”

If Clarke’s men see off Aberdeen tonight in their cup replay they will book a place in the last four for the first time since 1997 – when they lifted the trophy.

But Killie have lost their last seven against the Reds in Ayrshire, conceding 18 goals in the process.

Dicker said: “We don’t really read too much into our recent record against Aberdeen. There’s no mental block.

“These chances don’t come around too often. You’d imagine the team that won it in 1997 would have fancied their chances of retaining it.

“But here we are, 21 years later, trying to get to the semis for the first time since then.”