Boss optimistic despite cup exit
Derek Mcinnes was able to find consolation in Kilmarnock’s Scottish Cup exit.
He took satisfaction from his players producing the sort of performance that he wondered if they were truly capable of when he arrived as boss.
The Ayrshire side were more than a match for Dundee United and it wouldn’t have been a shock if they had beaten their Premiership opponents.
Mcinnes said: “It’s hard to take positives from losing in the cup, but did I think we’d be capable of that performance so soon when I arrived? I’m not so sure. That will do for me.
“We lost the game, but that type of performance will get more victories than defeats.
“The p l a ye r s g a ve absolutely everything. I have been here a couple of weeks now and that performance was miles better than what we had in my first week.”
Kilmarnock ended the game with a few injuries and Mcinnes acknowledged some of the knocks came because he had introduced a new, more energetic regime.
He went on: “The players are responding to what we are asking of them, the intensity and speed is what we want and they took on a premier league team.
“The problem I have
is when we are asking players to play at a certain speed and intensity, there is a consequence of that.
“The players who haven’t played a lot will benefit from having had plenty of minutes.
“I was dying to help my team in extra- time, but when you’re restricted with just one extra sub, it’s hard.
“I tried to be positive with the substitutes, we could have shored up the defence and played for penalties, but I didn’t want to send that kind of message out.
“The risk and reward is always there, we had umpteen chances in the game to get that allimportant second goal.
“Then, unfortunately for us, when it came for United it was in the dying embers of the game.
“Seeing that kind of performance makes me think we’ve got the answers in the building, but like every other manager and club we are always looking for new faces right up until the last minute.”