Kilmarnock reach Conference League play-off with win over Tromso in Norway

Kilmarnock have qualified for the Conference League play-offs with a win over Tromso in Norway.

Joe Wright scored the all-important goal in the opening stages to give Derek McInnes’ men a 1-0 win in Thursday’s second leg.

The 3-2 aggregate victory sets up a winner-takes-all clash with Copenhagen for a place in the group stages of the third-tier competition.

Following last week’s draw at Rugby Park the Scottish side travelled to the most northern stadium in Europe knowing a win would be enough to see them through.

And they scored an early goal when Wright rose highest from a corner kick to head past the keeper and make it 1-0 after ten minutes.

They were still ahead going into the break and were 45 minutes from the Conference League playoff stage.

Tromso had most of the early possession in the second half but Kilmarnock’s defence stayed disciplined and restricted them to very little chances in front of goal.

McInnes made three changes on the hour-mark and replaced Oli Bainbridge, Danny Armstrong, and Bobby Wales with Robbie Deas, David Watson, and Fraser Murray.

The home side had the ball in the net with 15 minutes remaining but the assistant referee had his flag up and it was ruled out for offside.

Killie were still ahead going into the last ten minutes with their defensive shape keeping Tromso at bay with some comfort.

And they managed to see the game out to book their place in the next round and get one step closer to the group stages.