DEREK MCINNES has only been back in the Premiership for three games, but he’s already sick of the sight of Celtic and Rangers.
The Kilmarnock manager said he was ‘embarrassed’ as Celtic hit his team for five at Rugby Park to follow up their 2-0 defeat at Ibrox last weekend, but qualified his disappointment by taking solace in the fact his side won’t come up against that level of opposition every week.
And he admits he is looking forward to next weekend’s game against Ross County to that Killie can attempt to show the top-flight what they are really all about as a team.
“There is a feeling that our season starts now to be honest,” McInnes said.
“I don’t mean that to be flippant and say we didn’t expect anything against the Old Firm, we tried to be competitive.
“Certainly, we’re not going to be tested [going forward] like we have in the last couple of games, that’s clear. We’ll be able to show a different side of ourselves in possession, create more opportunities and enjoy the game more in possession.
“It still shouldn’t be 5-0, even though we’re not ready to take on a Celtic, that’s what I’m disappointed with.
“I’m embarrassed by it, but we need to dust ourselves down and hopefully by the time we play the Old Firm next time around we’re more settled into the Premiership and better equipped to get a better result than we were today.
“I think there is a vast difference between Rangers and Celtic and a lot of the league, and we have an opportunity next week to go and try to win a game and Ross County will see it the same way.”
To compound McInnes’s misery, he is bracing himself to be without left-back Jeriel Dorsett for a significant period, with the on-loan Reading man being forced off in the first-half through injury.
“He heard a pop and I think it’s ligament damage of some sort,” he said.
“I think we can assume he’ll be out for a period of time, which is far from ideal.
“We were looking forward to working with him, he’s a young boy who is powerful and quick.
“We’ve still got time in the window to address one or two areas we’re clearly needing, hopefully it’s not too bad for the boy but it doesn’t look too good in terms of the next few games certainly.”
