Kilmarnock boss calls for more nastiness
Under-fire Kilmarnock manager Lee McCulloch admits he sympathises with fans after seeing his side lose at home to Ross County.
Killie are still without a win this season and the home fans turned on McCulloch during another miserable defeat at Rugby Park, with many calling for him to walk away from the role.
Goals from Craig Curran and Kenny van der Weg were enough to earn Owen Coyle a first win since taking over at Ross County, and a defeated McCulloch blasted the efforts of his players but refused to resign.
I feel let down by that first half,'' he said.Second half we huffed and puffed but to no avail.
There has to be a realisation of where we are when we go on that pitch.
We have let the fans down and I'm well aware of that, I'm well aware of their frustration and they were actually probably kind not to be booing longer and to be more hostile after that performance.
We need to get back to doing the ugly side of the game. We spoke about adding a bit more aggression as a team. I'm disappointed to be brutally honest.
There has to be a nastiness in our team. We're too nice, but happy to walk about with a swagger, with our toilet bags under our arms, and look the part but not be the part.
I'm upset. I've let one or two individuals know.''
He added: I can sympathise with it (the fans), and that's the truth. I try to bring honesty into it. The fans are only as bad as I thought they should have been after that performance, and that's the truth.
I'm well aware they're hurting, I'm hurting but I will keep going.
I want to turn this around, I want to get this win because there are players there who on their day can cause problems, that's the frustrating thing.
But I'll be there.
McCulloch was in the changing rooms for around an hour after the game and made it clear to the players what he thought of their performance.
There's a frustration in me that I unloaded after the game - I had to,'' he said.There's too much at stake, there's too many jobs at stake for players to be going through the motions. That's not me, I can't put my name to that first-half performance - that was embarrassing.''
It was a different matter for Coyle, who got off the mark in style having taken over after Jim McIntyre was sacked earlier in the week, and he was delighted by the impact.
He said: Any time you come into the club you want to hit the ground running, you want to get the momentum and the feel-good factor and it was great for the fans as well.
There was no doubt we fully merited the three points today, by a margin.''