Rory McKenzie on the Kilmarnock embarrassment driving his survival bid as he admits it was 'hard to show his face'

Rory McKenzie admits he struggled to show face in his home town after being part of the Kilmarnock squad that was relegated two years ago.

The winger doesn’t shy away from what he calls the embarrassment of Killie’s play-off plunge out of the Premiership against Dundee. His club had been in the top flight longer than the 29-year-old had been alive up to that point.

McKenzie helped Derek McInnes’ side bounce back at the first time of asking last season. But with another relegation scrap reaching the nitty gritty with four games remaining, he insists the memory of that painful summer is a driving factor as McInnes’ men look to motor out of the bottom two. He said: “It was hard to show my face, I felt like it was a real hit on my pride. There was an embarrassment about it as well, how long Kilmarnock had been in the top flight and you were part of the squad that took them down, it wasn’t nice.

“I think that’s a motivating factor, I don’t want to experience that again. I probably get asked about things more than most because when I go and do things it’s in the area, I see people, I play golf and people want to talk about football.

“It’s more in your face in that sense, I’ve been through it quite a few times here before so it’s nothing new. I’m not going to be a voice that’s going to tell everyone about it.

“If boys want to ask how the games went, how the split went, I’ll talk, but I’m not going to bring more pressure to it. They’re not daft, they’re all good lads and they know what it means.”

Killie are five points short of the total that saw them plunge through the play-offs two years ago. But McKenzie reckons there’s plenty of reasons to be confident that McInnes can guide the Rugby Park side to safety - not least because