McInnes hopeful win over Rangers will help entice new signings to Rugby Park

Derek McInnes is hoping Kilmarnock’s opening game win over Rangers will help him entice new signings to Rugby Park.

The Ayrshire club shocked Michael Beale’s new-look side with a 1-0 Premiership win on Saturday to secure their first win over either Old Firm side since their promotion back to the top flight in 2022.

The manager is now looking to push on for the rest of the season and finish as high up the table as possible.

They travel to Edinburgh to play Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday looking to build on their winning start.

Speaking ahead of the game McInnes said: “We have three weeks left of the window, ideally we would have liked to have had another forward player in for this game, but it doesn’t look likely now.

“We have got a few plates spinning and we are trying to be patient and hold our nerve with certain things.

“Everybody is looking for strikers and it’s a domino effect when somebody moves to another club the ripple effect can allow you to feel a bit more confident about landing one or two, so we are trying and we are in mix for it and hopefully we can deliver on that.

“I think that will be really important for us and could be the difference, to bring in that different type of dimension at the top end of the pitch.

“But you have to say, playing without a real number nine on Saturday, Watkins and Kennedy led the line brilliantly.

“We have Vassell getting upto speed, we have Innes Cameron there and young Bobby Wales, so we are not short of options, but I do feel we are in need of a different type of striker and we are working hard to do that.

“A couple of players and agents we are dealing with were sending messages after the game on Saturday, so people are watching and we know that.

“If we took a sore one then they would be thinking, ‘do I really want to go there’, so I think the win won’t have done us any harm.

“It doesn’t give us any guarantees but all we can do is make a pitch and try and sell the club to the player, and hopefully results like the one on Saturday there will help with that.”