Blair Alston claims Kilmarnock's Premiership return is just the beginning as he insists they can 'do damage'

Blair Alston is adamant Kilmarnock aren’t just back in the Premiership to survive.

And the man who sealed the Ayrshire side’s return to the top flight believes the squad have the tools to do damage again in the big time.

Excitement is building around the town as Killie prepare to rejoin the country’s elite after last term’s first spell out of the top division in 28 years.

Derek McInnes’ men will face Dundee United at home in their league opener and preparation work for the big kick-off is already underway at the National Sports Training Centre in Largs.

As well as the excitement, there’s expectation amongst the support.

Alston knows the faithful want Killie to start mixing it instantly and bag results.

The midfielder says the squad have exactly the same views upon making an immediate impact as he explained: “If you go up saying, ‘we’re just here to survive’ then you are almost setting yourself up for failure.

“You are almost saying that winning every so often is good enough and we don’t want to be like that.

“We’re not probably expecting to win as many games as we did last year because we know the league is going to be a lot tougher but there’s no reason to go up and just win one in every five or six games.

“You want to try and win as many as you can. We’ll see how we get on but we’ll look to go and impose ourselves in the league and make an impact.”

Alston believes the squad is there and continued: “That was part of why we were so disappointed in a way throughout last season.

“We felt we had a squad which was good enough to play in the league above.

“We’ve retained a lot of those players and, obviously, the manager has added a couple already and potentially could add a few more.

“We certainly feel that we’re capable