Victory tasted sweet
Rory McKenzie admits his quickfire derby opener for Kilmarnock tasted sweet after he dodged flying cups of drink launched from a baying Ayr support.
The midfielder blasted home a third- minute opener right in front of the home end in a first-half salvo that saw Ayr gone in 16 minutes at Somerset.
Oli Shaw and Jack Sanders then netted from Fraser Murray corners to make it 3- 0 before Ay had even found their feet as Killie wreaked revenge for Ayr’s victory at Rugby Park just last month.
McKenzie insists Killie fired out a title message with Friday’s 3-1 victory. He said: “I’m absolutely delighted. It was a long day thinking about it, waiting to play, especially after the last derby.
“It was a massive result. As a local guy it meant a lot. I hadn’t even made plans
for the weekend as I was waiting for the result!
“It was sweet scoring in that corner – there were lots of refreshments being thrown my way!
“It was an electric start. That’s what the manager wanted, a start like that. With us playing first this weekend it was a chance to send a message.
“If we win the rest of our games then we win the league, that’s the way we need to look at it.”
McKenzie is 17 games short of 300 for Killie. And the 28- year- old wants to make sure he elebrates the milestone as a Premiership player after being part of the side relegated last season.
He added: “It would be huge going back up, it’s where we should be.
“You see our travelling fans, you see us every week, But I was part of that team that got Kilmarnock relegated and I want to rectify that.”