Derek McInnes hails Kilmarnock for turning the tables on cocky Tromso as Conference League win turns down the volume

Derek McInnes hailed his Kilmarnock stars for turning the tables on Tromso.

The Rugby Park side will face FC Copenhagen - who overcame bani Ostava on penalties - in the Conference League playoff round after a terrific show in Norway which saw them leave the Arctic Circle with a 1-0 win to go through 3-2 on aggregate. McInnes’ team stunned the hosts who had made confident noises prior to the contest. The Killie boss said: “I’ve said this before, they thought they’d have one foot in the next round, I was in no doubt about that.

“I’ve been in the game long enough, I could tell how they were afterwards. Even some of the noise coming out. I don’t think they were disrespectful in that sense, but I could sense that they thought that the job was done at Rugby Park last week and they just needed to turn up. Thankfully, we turned up and made it a result for us.”

McInnes was thrilled to see his side restore defensive solidity to bag the clean sheet which sealed the deal after Joe Wright’s header. He said: “We had a lot of performances like that last season where we dug deep, resilience. Yes there was a wee bit more traffic the last 15-20 minutes. I don’t think the referee or the officials helped us at times. It was really fussy right from the get go.

“At times, it’s not what you need when you’re trying to see the game out, but we scored an all important first goal. Joe gets his header and it’s great for him because he had an absolutely torrid time on Sunday, he was full of remorse.

“We had some top performances. I thought Matty Kennedy was the best man on the park, country mile. We had a good, positive meeting at the hotel at lunchtime and were looking for that type of performance.

"It’s good for the confidence and the belief of