January 4 2024 Derek McInnes celebrates two years as Kilmarnock boss
Derek McInnes is celebrating his two-year anniversary as Kilmarnock boss today.
The manager was appointed on January 4th 2022, replacing Tommy Wright in the dugout.
He was instantly tasked with leading us to the Scottish Championship title, which he did memorably.
He kicked off his reign with a 2-0 win in Dumfries away to Queen of the South.
It was then a mixed bag of results for the next couple of months, but a highlight was a sensational win over rivals Ayr United at Somerset Park which saw us leading 3-0 in 16 minutes thanks to goals from Rory McKenzie, Oli Shaw and Jack Sanders – this victory was pivotal in our league-winning campaign.
He then led us to an unforgettable 2-1 win over Arbroath at Rugby Park to secure the Championship title and an instant return to the top-flight.
Back in the Premiership the ultimate goal was to secure survival, and although it took until the final day against Ross County, we did that with a fine 3-1 win which followed a 3-0 victory at Tannadice.
Another memorable part of that season was our Viaplay Cup run which saw us win at Tynecastle against Hearts before a 2-1 quarter-final win over Dundee United at Rugby Park which secured our first trip to Hampden for 11 years.
We took on Celtic at the national stadium and despite losing 2-0 we put up a good fight in the last-four clash.
This season kicked off with us winning our Viaplay Cup group before our fantastic opening day Premiership win against Rangers thanks to a Brad Lyons strike.
We followed this up with a 0-0 draw away to Hearts and then Marley Watkins sealed a 1-0 win against Celtic in the Viaplay Cup last-16.
We were knocked out of the competition in the quarter-final after a late strike from Alex Lowry stopped us securing back-to-back trips to Hampden.
Although starting December with a loss to Hearts in the league, it turned out to be a memorable month.
We followed this up with a stunning late win away to Aberdeen thanks to David Watson’s cool strike, and a few days later a Nat Phillips own goal and a Matty Kennedy finish secured a comeback win at home to Celtic.
We rounded off December with victories over St Johnstone and St Mirren and draws with Livingston and Dundee.
We head into the winter break sitting fourth-place in the Scottish Premiership and we’re gearing up for a Scottish Cup clash with Dundee on January 20th.
