KILLIE NOW A GENUINE FORCE, INSISTS BURKE

KILMARNOCK have become road warriors since new manager Steve Clarke was appointed and they travel to the Highlands to face Ross County tonight expecting to extend their unbeaten away record to eight games. The last six of that sequence came after Clarke replaced Lee McCulloch in September and, following their 5-1 hammering of Partick Thistle on Saturday to finally record their first home win of the campaign, winger Chris Burke believes that the Ayrshire club are now a force to be reckoned with. ‘I’d imagine now that teams are not looking forward to playing us just because of the threat that we have,’ claimed the 34-year-old. ‘We are enjoying our football and playing well. We are very disciplined, structured and know what we are doing on the football pitch. ‘Ross County will be a tough test because they have fantastic players and they will be looking to bounce back from their disappointment against Rangers last Saturday. ‘Obviously, now having a seven-point cushion between us and Thistle at the bottom is great but we’re not looking at that — we’re looking at how we can catch the next team above us. That’s our main aim. ‘Other teams would have preferred to come and play us at our patch just because of what was happening before, but we knew through time we would start getting results at home based on the strength of our performances over the last two months. ‘What a way it was to shift that dark cloud that was hanging over us at home! It was a fantastic result and the lads were great from start to finish. ‘We were ruthless as well and it could have been even more.’