Rory McKenzie admits Kilmarnock need a “reality check” and that there’s no doubts they are in a relegation scrap.
The Rugby Park midfielder was devastated after his side’s 3-0 defeat against drop rivals Ross County, and he insists the problems need to be sorted now.
The Ayrshire side host Dundee United tonight (Wednesday) and it gives them a chance to lift themselves three points off the bottom.
McKenzie said: “It has to be sorted now, any time we’ve relied on other teams it hasn’t gone our way, it just shouldn’t work that way.
“There has to be a reality check, we are in a relegation battle now. We have to kickstart the season, especially the away form, the longer that goes on it will only amount to one thing and it’s going to start becoming a struggle if we don’t sort it.
“What drags us out of this? Confidence. It’s all about winning games and building up confidence.
“We are not going to feel we are not under pressure. We are not daft.
“There is pressure on the upcoming games.
“If we can put in a good performance against Dundee United then we will take confidence from it.”
He continued: “We aren’t detached from the rest, there aren’t many positives to take but one is that there are four or five teams involved, previous times there’s maybe only or two teams you’re battling with so it can be tough to look up the table.
“But with so many teams involved we have to remain positive.”
McKenzie reckons the spirit inside the dressing room will be enough to drag them out of danger.
He said: “You can’t just pride yourself on team spirit, but I feel that we’ve got a good bunch here.
“I have been in dressing rooms before that going in on Monday after that would have been tough, but due to the game on Wednesday there’s a better spirit than there’d normally be.
“We need to bounce back, it was a tough one to take on Saturday because we know these games are vital and we need to put a run together.
“But the game on Wednesday comes so soon, and it’s against a team level on points with us so it’s a massive one.”
McKenzie was part of the Killie side that was relegated two years ago, and when asked what mistakes they can learn from he simply said: “You can’t rely on other results going your way.”
He continued: “Any time we slipped up the first thing we did was check the other results.
“That is not the way to go about things. It was not a nice way to finish the season.
“We need to take care of business ourselves and get the blinkers on.”
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