Derek McInnes determined to prolong Kilmarnock’s European adventure

Kilmarnock have made the trip to face the most northern professional football club in the world but manager Derek McInnes is hungry for more travel.

Killie go into Thursday’s Conference League clash with Tromso with the score tied at 1-1 following Bobby Wales’ late equaliser at Rugby Park.

McInnes’ side also fought back to level at home against Cercle Brugge in the Europa League qualifiers before going down 1-0 in Belgium.

A stronger start in Norway this week could give them every chance of making the play-offs where they would face Banik Ostrava or Copenhagen, who are 1-0 up from their first leg.

Killie’s European history started in the 1965-66 European Cup when they held Real Madrid in Ayrshire.

They reached the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals two years later before losing to Don Revie’s Leeds.

But they have struggled for wins in the more recent of their nine European campaigns ahead of this year.

McInnes told BBC Scotland: “As a club we are 155 years old and I think the supporters have only been able to travel in Europe nine times, somebody told me that.

“So it doesn’t happen often enough for our liking. But it’s important that we try and make this a regular occurrence and, for this year, try and elongate it as long as we can and just try and stay in the competition.

“I don’t want to watch Tromso play Copenhagen or whoever next week. I want it to be us and I want to be doing another interview in Copenhagen preferably next week and looking forward to another exciting time.

“And I know that puts us under pressure, but it’s exciting nonetheless and we just want to try and get the most out of this experience.”