McInnes applauds Kilmarnock’s ‘ really potent’ attacking players
DEREK McINNES hailed the firepower of his attackers after Kyle Vassell became the latest Kilmarnock player to hit double figures for the season.
Killie captain Vassell scored the only goal of the game after 64 minutes, securing a valuable 1- 0 victory over Ross County and netting his 10th goal of the campaign.
He follows Marley Watkins, who has already scored 12 times this term for McInnes’ side, while Danny Armstrong has also shown a keen eye for goal.
“That front four has been really potent for us,” McInnes said. “Strikers want to score goals. Between him and Marley 22 goals, Danny is on nine and Matty [ Kennedy] got another assist.
“I’m pleased for Kyle, we’re patching him up at the minute. I thought he was outstanding at Tynecastle last week and he only managed to train once in the past week. He always turns up for his work and is ready to be there for you.”
Kilmarnock stretched their lead over fifth- placed St Mirren to five points in the cinch Premiership after a weekend in which the three teams directly below them all lost.
McInnes admits European qualification was not a scenario that he considered at the outset of the season, though having put themselves in the driving seat, he is urging his team to go on and complete the job.
“The players deserve a lot of credit, last week secured top six and we knew if we could get top six then you can be in the fight for Europe,” he added.
“I don’t think anyone would have ever thought that [ would be the case] and rightly so – but now we’re in the top six with a game to go, hopefully with two or three more wins we may just achieve what we thought was beyond us.”
Despite a frustrating afternoon for his front three at Rugby Park, Don Cowie has vowed to keep setting up Ross County to attack.
Eamonn Brophy, Simon Murray and Jordan White were all selected to start for the Staggies, though they would be limited to a few sightings of goal in the first half.
It was a disappointing afternoon for Cowie’s men, who have fallen four points behind St Johnstone in their bid to avoid the relegation play- off place, but the interim boss is remaining upbeat.
“We try and win every game, we play Rangers next week and we’ll try to win the game,” Cowie said. “There’s no point in feeling sorry for ourselves.”