Kilmarnock winger Rory McKenzie has set his sights on a move in-field as he celebrated signing a new two-year deal with the club yesterday.

McKenzie has been plying his trade on the right flank for Killie for a number of years now, but after a chat with manager Lee Clark, McKenzie insists that he is ready to influence games from a more central position.

The new contract signals the end to some months of worry for the 22-year-old, whose relief at earning a new deal was only surpassed by his side retaining their Premiership status.

He says he was always confident though that his side could dig themselves out of trouble.

“It feels good,” McKenzie said. “It’s the first time I’ve been out of contract at the end of the season and there’s a part of you that thinks ‘what if I don’t get offered another one, what will I do?’ I’m just glad to get it all sorted now.

“I spoke to the manager at the end of the season and he was talking about a new position, maybe playing a bit more in-field.

“I enjoy playing out wide, but you maybe don’t get the best out of me there, so I spoke to the manager and he sees me playing further in-field. I’m looking forward to that.

“There has been big change at the club and I think it needed it. The whole place needed a revamp.

“Even before we were in the play-off spot though, I always felt that we wouldn’t be relegated.

“Even after the first-leg, although we were beaten 1-0, I was still confident that we were going to beat Falkirk and the last game of the season proved it.”

McKenzie hopes that the returning feel-good factor around the club since their play-off victory can help give Killie momentum going into the new campaign.

He has called upon the huge support who cheered them to victory over Falkirk to get behind Lee Clark’s side again on a more regular basis.

“The last game of the season and the first leg of the playoff proved what a big crowd can do to the players and their performance,” he said.

“That last day of the season – walking out to see all those fans – was great, and it made a massive difference to the way we played.

“We’re not going to get that sort of support every week, but I feel that the more support we have, the better we can do throughout the season.”