Jack Sanders admits he’s loving life at Kilmarnock under Derek McInnes.
The centre-back was drafted into the starting line-up for the 2-1 Scottish Cup defeat to Dundee United after serving a two-match suspension.
The 22-year-old admits he’s learning plenty under the manager's guidance and now he’s hoping he can cement his spot in the team.
He told the Kilmarnock Standard: “I am enjoying my time under the gaffer so far, obviously when he first came in I was suspended so I couldn’t take part in the first two games.
“I was hopeful I was going to be involved and thankfully he put me in.
“Obviously I played towards the end when Tommy was here, hopefully now I can kickstart, get a good run of games and hopefully get us promoted.
“I’ve been working hard in training, doing everything I can without playing. I think everyone is enjoying the change, it’s good, really good.
“I enjoyed working under the previous manager Tommy, but it’s different now, he’s got different ways of doing things, so does every manager.
“They all have different ways of training, but I am really enjoying it with the gaffer, I am learning and that’s the main thing, hopefully I can kick on.
“I am happy to adapt to whatever style or formation he wants to play, that’s what we’ve been working on in training.
“That’s what’s important to my game, if I can add different aspects then that’s what’s important for me.
“Different teams are going to challenge us in lots of different ways, if we can adapt then that will be crucial.”
He added: “I want to play, that’s the main thing, I want to help the team get promoted.
“I think when you play a run of games you feel better and things start to become normal.
“When you don’t play and you get thrown in it’s tough to be at your best, but when you get a run of games you can really show what you can do, so if I keep doing the right things and get games under the gaffer then hopefully I can show what I can do.”
Sanders admits it’s been great learning off of the likes of Ash Taylor, Chris Stokes, Dylan McGowan and Euan Murray who are all experienced defenders.
However, he says as much as he’s learning from these players, he wants to get in the squad ahead of them.
He said: “All the guys here, they’re all experienced lads, I’m kind of the younger one out of them.
“But I wouldn’t say I’m just a young lad, I’m 22 so that’s not too young, I want to play of course. I just want to keep learning off them and developing as a player.”
Killie are unbeaten in 90 minutes since McInnes was appointed – and Sanders says it’s crucial to keep up that form heading into the business end of the cinch Championship season.
He said: “Keeping up the good form is really important. I thought the first game away at Queen of the South was a good performance, it was a clean sheet.
“We went to Partick, we felt we could have played better but we got a draw which was fine. But on Saturday I thought there was a real energy about the team, there was a real hunger to win.
“Obviously the fans were applauding us at the end for the effort, but the effort is not remembered when you’re not going into the next round.
“United won on the day, and that hurt us because we want to be winners in every game, we need to make sure we are winners at the end of the season."
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