McInnesconfidenthewill endKillie’spoor28yearsrun
Killie’s latest Scottish Cup exit keeps the club’s staggering run of not having reached the semi-finals since winning the country’s premier cup competition in 1997.
Their defeat at Pittodrie now means that run will stretch to a 28th year - a bitterly poor statistic given the Rugby Park side have spent that entire run, bar a single season, in the top flight and have boasted 10 top-five league finishes during that stretch.
Gaffer Derek McInnes insisted earlier in the campaign that he’s confident he will lead his team out at Hampden at some point during his spell in Ayrshire.
But while that won’t be happening this season, he believes the signs are positive having reached the last eight in each of the last two seasons.
Add in a quarter and semi-final showing in the League Cup, and McInnes is hopeful the Killie faithful will have some cup cheer sooner rather than later.
He insisted, however, it’s all focus now on the league with four games remaining before the split as they look to cement their place in the top six before potentially eyeing up a challenge for European football.
Speaking after their cup exit, he said:“This club’s not had enough cup runs over the last wee while.
“We’ve had three quarter-finals and managed to get to one semi-final so we’re putting ourselves in there.
“We dust ourselves down, we’ve got nine games left and we’ve got to try and get ourselves into the top six.
“Hopefully we can finish strong but the time for reflection on a good campaign is in May, not just now and we’ve got work to do.”