Kilmarnock: Stuart Kettlewell heaps praise on ‘eye-catching’ debutant Brannan

Stuart Kettlewell says he has “high hopes” for “eye-catching” Ben Brannan after the teenager scored on his Kilmarnock debut against Brora Rangers on Saturday.

The 18-year-old midfielder, who came through the Rugby Park academy, netted the first goal of the Kettlewell era at Killie in the Premier Sports Cup.

“I don’t often pick people out but I thought he (Brannan) was probably our most eye-catching player throughout the day,” he told club media. “Really good.

“He’s a lad that I knew of because an obsession of trying to get to know football players, not just at one club but around the country.

“So he’s one that we’ve got high hopes for and quite clearly, like us all, we all need to improve, we all need to get better.

“But we changed him, we moved him to that right-hand side, he comes in from the left and covered the back area really well with a composed finish.

“But just trying to encourage him to give us a bit more because we believe in his talent and what he can bring to the party.

“We don’t want him to wait five or 10 minutes to get going in the game. We want him to stamp up on it as quick he possible can.”