Chris Stokes has a simple message ahead of Friday’s title clash with Arbroath: Bring it on.
The Kilmarnock captain won’t be fazed by the occasion after playing in front of 70,000 fans at Wembley with Coventry, and he’s relishing the chance to send the Ayrshire side back to the Scottish Premiership.
A Friday night victory for Killie live on the BBC will seal the league title with a game to spare, and with a sold-out rugby park awaiting him, he should be a cracker.
Stokes admits he looked over the top at times throughout the season, but he didn’t think for a second that Killie wouldn’t come up.
He said: “I had a good conversation with the manager when he arrived. It was just about instilling that confidence in the players because you could see some were disappointed and had their heads down.
“But it wasn’t done and dusted back then. It was in the middle of the season and there was so much time to go.
“The main thing was to sort out home form. You’re not going to win a league title if your home form isn’t very good.
“Since he arrived we have been fantastic at home and have had the crowd behind us in every game.
“You walk out onto that pitch with a rebound in your step instead of thinking ‘oh, it’s another home game’ and the pressure of everyone coming to watch.
“We start with a positive attitude. It’s all about puffing out your chest and saying, ‘Let’s go.’
“That was the main thing. Everyone is enjoying home games now, enjoying the added pressure and excitement.
“That’s what we need on Friday. Those are the games you want to play. You want to enjoy those games, so hopefully Friday will be great.”
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He added: “It doesn’t matter if you play in front of five, 10, 15, 70 thousand, it’s a big pressure game because these are the games we are trying hard to go for.
“When we all walked into that building and got together as a group, we talked about getting into a position where we fight for a league title and we got into it.
“We started Friday with a positive attitude that all that hard work now comes down to this one game.”
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