THE Kilmarnock supporters who packed out the away end in Paisley on Wednesday night seem convinced already that they will be going on a European tour come next summer, and the man who fired them to their latest win isn’t about to rain on their parade.
Far from dampening down expectations, Marley Watkins is instead taking a leaf out of former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou’s playbook, after his well-taken goal against St Mirren pulled Killie four points clear of the Saints in fourth place in the Premiership standings.
The forward wants the fans to keep dreaming of what might be possible for Derek McInnes’s men this season, because he is convinced there is more than enough within the Rugby Park dressing room to meet those lofty goals.
“Everyone is playing their part,” Watkins said.
“From the staff to everyone involved, and we just want to continue, to keep being winners and see where we can take it.
“[We need to] just be as ambitious as possible, keep the standards as high as possible and take one game at a time trying to win it.
“We’ve shown we can beat anyone. We’ve beaten Rangers, Celtic, so we can beat anyone on our day.
“Like what Spurs manager Ange says, ‘Let them dream’, and hopefully we can deliver something special.
“It’s great [to play in Europe]. Travel the world, go to different places and different fans. It’s something to work towards and definitely to want to achieve.
“It’s great to be up the right end of the table and great to be a part of this group. To be fair, I’ve been in great changing rooms before. Obviously, this is another one.
“There’s so much togetherness. We do stuff every day off the pitch as well and it’s great to be a part of. I just want to make sure it’s a successful season.
“We’ve just got to keep it going now. We have two more games before the break, so we want to end well.”
McInnes’s teams generally have a reputation for being well organised, and any success they have is normally put down to their functionality rather than their flair.
That is certainly one element contributing to the current run that Killie are enjoying, but for Watkins, there is also real quality within their ranks to complement their manager’s tactical acumen.
Indeed, there are some within Rugby Park, like on-loan Ipswich man Corrie Ndaba, who he feels can reach any level he wants to in the game.
“We have Corrie on loan who I think will go all the way to the top,” he said.
“I played Championship and I know he is top drawer on the pitch and off it. He’s a real winner and can play everywhere. Just a Rolls Royce of a player.
“People like Matty (Kennedy), Danny (Armstrong), who create every game. Kyle Vassell. We’ve just got top quality players.
“We’ve got a long way to go, it’s a great halfway point of the season, but there’s no reason why we can’t achieve great things.”
Watkins himself has rather been something of an unsung hero in Killie’s charge up the table.
Whilst not generally being regarded as a prolific goalscorer throughout his career, his strike against St Mirren was his sixth already for the campaign. But in typically modest style, he soon shifted the conversation back onto the collective.
“I’m just playing games and I know I do well when I am playing games,” he said.
“That’s what I have done. It was just great to get another win for the boys. A good, ugly win.
“I think winning is a habit and that’s from stuff you do off the pitch, the way you train, everything. So, we just have to keep it up.
“We are quite demanding on each other and that’s great. It’s a real winning environment and it’s great. Long may it continue.”
