Soccer

Will Dennis: Kilmarnock will be just as fearless on the road

Will Dennis has enjoyed a positive start to his Kilmarnock career (Jeff Holmes/PA)
Will Dennis has enjoyed a positive start to his Kilmarnock career (Jeff Holmes/PA)

Kilmarnock goalkeeper Will Dennis vowed his team would take the initiative on the road as well as at home following their shock win over Rangers.

A Killie starting team featuring seven summer signings opened their cinch Premiership campaign in style with a 1-0 win at Rugby Park last Saturday.

Manager Derek McInnes is looking to improve their away form this season and Killie now have the chance to lay down another marker when they travel to Edinburgh to face Hearts on Sunday.

Dennis said: “We don’t go into games thinking we are just going to sit back and let the better teams take control of us. We go in there with a mentality that we can beat anyone.

“It’s a fortress with the fans we have got, you saw that on Saturday, they turned up in their numbers and boosted us for 90 minutes-plus and got us over the line.

“Going to play a different team doesn’t change the way we want to play, we go in with the same mentality of wanting to win and come away with something.”

Dennis was one of those seven summer signings after moving to Ayrshire on loan from Bournemouth.

The 23-year-old said: “I heard good things. A few lads from Bournemouth have been up here on loan. Zeno Ibsen Rossi was here and I was in digs with him. We used to sit and watch his games on TV.

“So I knew this was a nice family-oriented club and a good place to come. I jumped at the chance.”

Dennis has had an experienced group of goalkeepers to work with at Bournemouth including former Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc, Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale, former Chelsea player Asmir Begovic and Darren Randolph, once of Motherwell.

“They have been brilliant,” he said. “I learned a lot, especially when I was younger.

“We had Artur Boruc and Asmir, a few of the big names in football as goalies, different types of goalies and you take bits from each individual.

“Aaron Ramsdale is a couple of years older than me but you take parts of his game and just seeing where he is now, it motivates you to push to get to where you think you can, or where you know you can get to in the future.”