Marley Watkins Kilmarnock return NOT a headache for Derek McInnes as he plots Brugge Europa League downfall

Derek McInnes admits it’s a huge boost to have Marley Watkins back for Kilmarnock’s Belgian job.

The influential striker missed last week’s first-leg crunch due to a groin issue. But Watkins, who was the club’s top scorer last term, is available for the return showdown against Cercle Brugge as Killie go for a famous triumph. Kyle Vassell led the line as a sole striker in the 1-1 draw at Rugby Park and McInnes now has the option of going two-up as he plots a famous triumph.

The boss said: “Marley’s trained the last couple of days. It was close last week and the fact he’s available is a huge boost. It’s not giving me a headache, having Marley back clearly is an advantage to us. It’s up to us to try and set the players up tactically how we want to approach the game. We looked at last week’s tie, it’s 180 minutes, you don’t have to win it in the first leg.

“Equally, you don’t want to lose it. Here we are now, it’s now become a 90-minute game, one-off cup game. We’re prepared to go the full way if need be, whether it’s extra time or penalties. We trust our fitness, we trust what we do and we look forward to it, regardless of what team is picked.

"We’ll try to be the best version of us. It's served us well, we're not looking to tear that up and start again. You don’t get through these types of games without two big performances. One performance isn’t enough, you need to perform in the second leg as well.

“I remind the players of the fact that only Rangers and Celtic have beaten us [in the Premiership] since the 2nd of December. Almost five and a half months of football, the best teams in our country are the only teams that have beaten us.

“We know how to compete, we know how to make things difficult. We back ourselves home