Kilmarnock

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Jack Burroughs says Kilmarnock are "feeling optimistic" about their Conference League second-leg play-off against Copenhagen.

The 23-year-old defender says despite being 2-0 down from the first leg that the pressure isn't on Killie.

The on-loan Coventry man said: "We're going into the game as underdogs but we have got a point to prove, we know what a good team we are and we know what's on the line.

"We showed last week we have the ability to go toe-to-toe with a team of this calibre and I'm sure we will put our best foot forward and take the game to them.

"A game with this much anticipation and pressure on it, we've got to do everything we can to give ourselves the best chance of winning and part of that is discipline.

"No matter what stage of your career you're at, people dream of playing European football when they're kids, so for me to come on loan and have the opportunity to do that here would be incredible."

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes says his side must make Thursday's second leg Copenhagen's "biggest nightmare".

The Rugby Park club have to overturn a two-goal deficit to progress to the Conference League.

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Away from the intense build-up to a seismic European second leg and dealing with a hectic end to the transfer window, Derek McInnes had some "Santa" duties to attend to this week.

It is only August, but the Kilmarnock manager said he felt like Father Christmas when phoning youngster Bobby Wales to notify him he was in the Scotland Under-21 squad.

After an impressive loan spell at Alloa last term, the 19-year-old striker has gained first-team action at Rugby Park this season and scored his first club goal with a late equaliser against Tromso earlier this month.

Wales is joined with fellow teenager David Watson in Scot Gemmill's set-up for their forthcoming Euros qualifiers, something McInnes is "absolutely delighted" about.

"It's magic," the Kilmarnock boss added. "We expected Davie but were hoping for Bobby. When I got the email, I messaged Davie because he was expecting it.

"But I wanted to phone Bobby. Honestly, I felt like Santa. He was absolutely over the moon.

"It's a strong 21s squad, so he's in good company. I think Davie was more buzzing for Bobby than he was for himself."

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Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes has been speaking to the media prior to his side's Conference League play-off second leg with Copenhagen.

Here are the key lines:

• Kilmarnock have still got a few injury concerns for Thursday, including captain Kyle Vassell and Fraser Murray.

• McInnes says he will "weigh up" risking players for such a "significant game".

• He adds that the team have the chance to "deliver one of the best results in the club's history".

• McInnes says Kilmarnock will "try and make it awful" for Copenhagen and are aiming to make Thursday "their biggest nightmare".

• To achieve that, the Ayrshire side will need to be "at full throttle" and have a "good mindset".

• McInnes takes confidence in the fact he feels Kilmarnock have delivered their "better performances" in Europe this season.

• The Rugby Park boss says his team "haven't helped" themselves in recent domestic games, but he admits he has "prioritised Europe because of the financial rewards" on offer.

• Kilmarnock, who need to claw back a two-goal deficit, must make sure they are "the team doing more attacking".

• He says Conference League qualification would change how his transfer deadline day looks on Friday.

• And McInnes adds that he "felt like Santa" when phoning Bobby Wales after the youngster was called up to Scotland's Under-21 squad for the first time.

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Kilmarnock goalkeeper Robby McCrorie could be in line for a Scotland debut next month after returning to Steve Clarke's squad.

The 26-year-old, who left Rangers to make the move to Ayrshire this summer, is back in the senior set-up for the first time since November 2023.

The former Under-21 international has featured in numerous squads but is yet to gain a cap for the first team.

Despite being named on the Kilmarnock bench in their past three games, McCrorie has played six times this season - almost as many matches as he played for Rangers in the space of nine years.

The keeper has been rewarded for that game time by being included in Clarke's squad, along with Hearts' Zander Clark and Angus Gunn of Norwich City.

Scotland face Poland and Portugal in a Nations League double-header next month.

Sandy Armour
Fan writer

I hated VAR long before it came to Scotland so it's no surprise that it has the ability to ruin European ties too.

Killie played well in Copenhagen and were fairly comfortable as the hosts got ever more frustrated.

Enter stage right the VAR intervention that was a laughable decision, although I wasn't chuckling.

Their second goal with the last kick of the game could be crucial and was a sickening blow, especially for the 700 diehards who made the trip to Denmark.

The league game at Aberdeen was one we could have done without so the final outcome of no points, no goals and another red card was unsurprising.

We need to shake off the knocks, dust ourselves down and prepare for what could be a historic night under the floodlights on Thursday.

The Danes may have been in the last 16 of the Champions League last season but they didn't look special in the home leg.

It's a massive ask for those Killie players but if we can grab the first goal of the game then we all might just start to dream.

Sandy Armour is editor of The Killie Hippo fanzine

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Derek McInnes says Kilmarnock will come out swinging as they look to overturn a two-goal deficit against Copenhagen on Thursday.

The Ayrshire side conceded twice in the final 14 minutes as they lost 2-0 in the Danish capital last week, but McInnes believes they can overturn the deficit at Rugby Park and reach the Conference League proper.

"I really want us to have a right go at it," he told Killie TV.

"We go to Copenhagen and it was more about our defensive work. We are up against a team with nine, 10 full internationalists in it, a team who have been playing in the Champions League.

"We were tested defensively and we were 14 minutes away from having one of the best results in the club's history.

"This time around we are at home and want to give the best version of us. We need the crowd to be with us and the players to feel that belief is there from them as well as ourselves.

"We are going to have to try and be far more attacking, throw far more punches than we did and hopefully we can make it go our way.

"The rewards are too big for us not to believe we can overturn this."

Watch highlights from Aberdeen's Scottish Premiership victory over Kilmarnock.

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We asked you for your views following Kilmarnock's defeat at Pittodrie.

Here's what you had to say:

Dougie: Didn't see game but saw the starting 11. Watson must be wondering what position he's going to play in next. With three strikers on the bench, why doesn't he play one of them with Watkins and put Armstrong and Kennedy where they should be? This Euro journey is beginning to affect McInnes with his selections...

Jim: We have major problems. A forward line that cannot score, a midfield that is totally inadequate, a defence that is constantly under pressure, two goalkeepers who are still trying to find their feet and a manager whose tactics are non-effective. Watkins is past his best, Anderson is useless and I still don't know what Donnelly does in the team.

Stephen: One win and only four goals in nine games this season. It’s hard to see where goals or wins are going to come from. We badly need some quality in the middle of the park and up front. We have too many players who do similar jobs and therefore lack ability to change games. We essentially re-signed last season’s squad instead of looking to improve it.

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FC Copenhagen head coach Jacob Neestrup was left disappointed by what he viewed as the latest in a string of poor performances as his side suffered a 3-2 defeat by Nordsjaelland before heading to Kilmarnock for Thursday's Europa Conference League play-off second leg.

The visitors were hit by three goals within the opening half hour and, despite finding the net twice in the second half, drop to fifth in the Danish Superliga, four points behind Silkeborg, after six games.

Copenhagen lost 1-0 to Banik Ostrava before winning the penalty shoot-out in the previous round of the Conference League, then were held 1-1 at home by Viborg before two late goals secured a first-leg advantage over Kilmarnock.

"We had a golden opportunity to go out there and correct the poor performances from our past few matches," Neestrup told his club website, saying his side were "too deflated" by the concession of the early goal.

"We didn't work together as a team. We only managed to pull ourselves together when it was too late."

Nordsjaelland struck after just three minutes as Peter Ankersen's cross to back post was headed in by Sindre Walle Egeli.

Two minutes later, Marcus Ingvartsen gathered an Egeli pass before volleying superbly under the crossbar from 18 yards.

Copenhagen were then caught on the break as Conrad Harder's low ball across the penalty box was hammered first time into top corner by Benjamin Nygren.

The visitors struck back nine minutes after the break as striker Orri Oskarsson took a through ball from former Celtic winger Mohamed Elyounoussi in his stride to fire low into far corner.

When midfielder Viktor Claesson rose to flick a header home from winger Robert's chipped cross, Copenhagen still had 12 minutes of normal time remaining to complete the fightback, but the home side held on to lift themselves level with the visitors on points.

Neestrup said it "created some tension at the end" but added: "I still don't think we had a proper grip on the game, even though our second half was better."

Kilmarnock are stuck at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership after Sunday's 2-0 defeat in Aberdeen.

Manager Derek McInnes was critical of the decision to send off captain Brad Lyons and his side's defending.

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Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes suggested that referee Matthew MacDermid was swayed to upgrade Brad Lyons' yellow card to red by a more experienced official in the VAR room after an "unnecessary" intervention in their 2-0 defeat in Aberdeen.

The former Dons manager thought his side's participation in Conference League qualifying has contributed to three straight defeats that leave his side bottom of the Scottish Premiership but admits that three red cards have had a bigger impact.

Lyons was dismissed for a challenge on Aberdeen striker Ester Sokler early in the second half with the visitors 1-0 behind.

"I just spoke to the referee - he was convinced it was a yellow, but he looked at two or three different angles and he started to sway that it was maybe a red," McInnes told BBC Scotland.

"I don't think he should have been brought over. He is not high or endangering an opponent.

"This is not what managers were told. That, unless it was a clear and obvious error, VAR was not going to get involved, but I don't think that is.

"I don't know if it is because it is a more senior referee in the VAR room that the referee maybe starts to doubt."

McInnes nevertheless thought Aberdeen deserved their win.

"I thought Aberdeen were better than us in that the opening 20-25 minutes," he added. "We went a shape that allowed us to match up in the middle of the pitch.

"In hindsight, I thought we were better when we went with a front two - wee Bruce coming on helped us and I thought we finished the first half the better team.

"We have lost the game to two free headers, which is very unlike us. The game changes again when we are down to 10 men and it is all about plugging holes, similar to how it was against Motherwell, similar to how it was against St Johnstone.

"We have to take responsibility for that. We've never had a discipline problem at the club, but three red cards domestically in the last three weeks on the back of everything else we have to deal with is extremely disappointing."

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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Former Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes had pondered asking for Sunday's visit to Pittodrie to be postponed to help his side prepare for Thursday's Conference League play-off second leg against Copenhagen.

He decided it was "pointless" following soundings from the Scottish Professional Football League and was left wishing they were as amenable to such requests as some other countries around Europe.

McInnes admitted to BBC Scotland before kick-off that he had to lift his Kilmarnock side "psychologically" after the concession of two late goals in Denmark.

However, he made only two changes to his starting line-up, both forced, with captain Kyle Vassell having picked up a knock and centre-half Joe Wright being suspended.

The Kilmarnock manager made another change after just 30 minutes, taking off young midfielder David Watson and throwing on striker Bruce Anderson.

Whether through injury or design, it did little to stem the tide of home attacks and the game looked to be lost long before captain Brad Lyons' red card.

Not for the first time, Kilmarnock looked all grunt and grind with little attacking threat - something they must rediscover quickly if they are to overcome the two-goal deficit in Thursday's second leg at Rugby Park.

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Saturday signing Kevin Nisbet is among Aberdeen's substitutes against Motherwell after the Scotland striker joined on loan from Millwall.

Home boss Jimmy Thelin makes two changes to his starting line-up, with centre-half Slobodan Rubezic and winger Topi Keskinen, making his first start, replacing Jack Milne and Shayden Morris, who both make the bench.

Kilmarnock's Derek McInnes also makes two changes, with Robbie Deas replacing the suspended Joe Wright in defence and winger Danny Armstrong starting in the absence of captain Kyle Vassell, the striker having picked up a knock in Copenhagen on Thursday.

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Derek McInnes says Killie need to show "more attacking threat" as they prepare to welcome FC Copenhagen to Rugby Park on Thursday.

First up though, the Ayrshire club have a trip to Aberdeen to contend with before their huge European tie.

McInnes' side trail the Danish club by two goals after a 2-0 defeat away from home.

"It was brilliant for us to see so many fans travelling, in and around the city, interacting with them," the Killie boss said.

"A club of our size, we are proud of the fact we were taking on a heavyweight in Copenhagen and I thought the result was really harsh on us.

"The recognition that the fans gave the players at the end helps us all to be honest. It does help us, and I thank the fans for that.

"But we go again and hopefully next Thursday we can set about that task.

"We will need so show more attacking threat.

"My intention is to put out a more attacking team to try and get the game going our way a wee bit and try and hit them hard and try and give them the best version of us next Thursday.

"Because we don't want to go out of Europe, we are really enjoying it and the supporters are enjoying it."

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Aberdeen are still without injured midfielders Leighton Clarkson (shoulder) and Dante Polvara (hamstring) as well as the AWOL Duk.

Kilmarnock are likely to make a series of changes amid their European clash with Copenhagen. Joe Wright is suspended, captain Kyle Vassell went off with a knock in Denmark, Robby McCrorie (groin) is a doubt while Corrie Ndaba and Kyle Magennis are nearing fitness.

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• Aberdeen lost all three of their league meetings with Kilmarnock last season, all without scoring. This is as many defeats as they had suffered in their previous 35 league matches against Killie beforehand (W25 D7 L3).

• After winning their visit to Aberdeen in last season’s Scottish Premiership 1-0 in December, Kilmarnock could win successive league trips against the Dons for the first time since August 2010.

• Aberdeen are unbeaten in their last 11 league games (W8 D3), last going 12 without loss in the Scottish Premiership in February 2016 – that includes two wins from two this season, with the Dons last winning their opening three games of a top-flight campaign in 2017-18.

• Kilmarnock have lost their opening two Scottish Premiership games of the 2024-25 season by an aggregate score of 0-7 (0-4 v Celtic, 0-3 v St. Johnstone); the only team to have made a worse pointless start in the competition after two games this century are Hamilton Academical in 2010-11 (minus eight goal difference).

• Jamie McGrath has been directly involved in five goals in his last three Scottish Premiership appearances (three goals, two assists), scoring and assisting in each of Aberdeen’s two league games this term; the last player to score and assist in three straight outings in the competition was Celtic’s Anthony Stokes in May 2014.