TAYLOR MADE

Warrior Ash is a trusted lieutenant of Killie boss McInnes — and has just the kind of fighting qualities the Rugby Park club need for their survival showdown

ASH TAYLOR knows the job at hand. If he defends well enough to help Kilmarnock keep a clean sheet against Ross County this afternoon it will be mission accomplished. Yet if Premiership survival depends on taking at least a point against the visiting Highlanders, Taylor can’t help contemplating another, more heroic, scenario.

It was Taylor who scored the first goal of Killie’s top-flight campaign, a last-minute equaliser no less, that claimed an opening-day point against the ultimately doomed Dundee United.

He’d love to repeat the trick by bookending the campaign with another this afternoon.

‘I scored the first and it would be nice to get the last as well,’ beamed the defender, fresh from the team’s convincing 3-0 trouncing of United in midweek.

‘I am a threat at set-pieces and I like to try and get one or two during the season.

‘It would be great to finish off with another but the main focus is getting the points that get us over the line.’

You’d never describe Taylor as silky but his skillset has provided the foundation for several Derek McInnes teams, stretching back to their first of two assignments together at Aberdeen, when the centre-back joined from his original club Tranmere in 2014.

There’s a clear trust between player and manager that has served Killie well during a tough debut campaign in the Premiership.

Appointed in January of last year, McInnes quickly signed Taylor to help smooth the path to promotion, knowing the 32-year-old’s battling qualities would really come to the fore at the higher level.

‘He trusts me and lets me be who I am and play the game as I enjoy it,’ says Taylor. ‘When a manager shows you that faith you are always going to play well.

‘He can rely on me in those pressure moments. I love them, I have played in cup finals and semi-finals for him. I thrive in those big games.’

But while McInnes’s previous sales pitches to join Aberdeen (a brief spell at Northampton interrupted his time in the north east) involved the lure of European football and a crack at big prizes, the job at Killie was more modest.

Treading water at Walsall, he barely hesitated.

‘It was a challenge I looked forward to,’ he insists. ‘Come up and win a league, that was the first thing and now it’s essentially the same prize at the end of the day — to keep the club in the league.

‘I saw it as a good opportunity to come back up and play under a manager who I have known for numerous years — and one who gets the best out of me.’

It has not been an easy year for Killie. Away from home their league form has been dire, Wednesday’s 3-0 victory a timely diversion from the norm.

The saving grace has been their home form — and their opponents’ struggles to come to terms with the artificial pitch at Rugby Park.

Today they will likely have to do without striker Kyle Vassell, who turned in a two-goal performance at Tannadice to remove the spectre of automatic relegation.

Goals won’t necessarily be the first priority today but Taylor would rather the Northern Irish cap was in the team, a doubtful scenario following the injury that forced him off early against United.

‘Kyle helps us get up the pitch,’ continued Taylor. ‘He is an absolute presence up there, throws himself about.

‘He is a nightmare to defend against, he occupies centre-halves and allows Doidgey (Christian Doidge) to get in about it as well.

‘I am sure he will put himself forward for this one.’

Although United possess a much richer and more technically gifted squad, they couldn’t match the aggressive intent in Killie on Wednesday, backed up by the finishing power of Vassell and substitute Innes Cameron.

‘It was nice to send the fans home happy for a change,’ says Taylor. ‘We have put the away record to bed and it is nice now to have a home game to look forward to.

‘We’ll try to win it. Playing for a point is always a dangerous game.’

While a draw will suffice for Killie, County need to win to avoid the nervy prospect of a two-legged play-off against Partick Thistle.

‘The job is still in our own hands,’ added Taylor. ‘The manager said four points would keep us up and that’s how it’s turning out.

‘We had the bit between our teeth at United and we knew it was always going to come down to the games against the teams around us. I have been in these situations before at both top and bottom of the table. I have my experience and I just have to use my voice and pass that on to the young boys.

‘I like those pressure moments, it is what you play football for.’

The boss said that four points would keep us up and that’s how it’s turning out