McCulloch takes charge of Kilmarnock

Lee McCulloch has been put in charge of Kilmarnock following the resignation of Gary Locke.

Today’s 1-0 defeat at home to Hamilton Accies proved to be Locke’s final match in charge of the Ayrshire side with his number two put in charge for Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox.

This evening Killie released a statement saying: “Gary Locke has resigned as First Team Manager this evening and will be replaced by Lee McCulloch will be assisted by Peter Leven and under-20 head coach Alan Robertson.

“The board of directors would like to thank Gary for his time with the club and wish him every success in the future.

“Lee McCulloch is the holder of a UEFA Pro Licence and has been acting as a first-team coach this season, although he remains registered as a player.”

Immediately after today’s defeat by Locke said: “You’re going to get criticism when you’re in the position in the league that we are in. I’m not going to shirk away from that, that’s football.

“Every manager gets stick when the team is not doing well. I would rather I get it than the players as there are one or two lacking confidence at the minute and it’s difficult to play well when they’re playing with such a lack of confidence.

“The only way you can get through that is by digging in and working hard and that’s what we have to do.

“I didn’t think it was a great game. I thought we started nervous and at half-time we tried to get them to relax because we were making basic mistakes.

“They responded well enough and we were disappointed to lose the game because I didn’t think anyone deserved to win.”

Today’s defeat leaves Killie four points behind third bottom Hamilton and 11 ahead of Dundee United who have two games in hand.