Locke salutes Killie for winning round fans

Kilmarnock boss Gary Locke felt getting the home fans onside was crucial in his side's victory over Inverness.

The boisterous Rugby Park faithful got behind their team, particularly in the closing stages of the game as the hosts held on for a 2-1 win.

Greg Kiltie opened the scoring nine minutes in, but Ross Draper pulled one back before the break with Caley Thistle's 1500th competitive goal.

A wonder-strike from Craig Slater restored Killie's lead in the second half and it proved the catalyst to lift the home crowd.

If the fans see the endeavour of the players, they'll back you, I've always said that,'' Locke said.You could see that here. Too many times we have let ourselves down here and we've had criticism.

But if the players keep putting that type of effort in, the fans will get behind them. You have to apply yourself week-in, week-out.

We needed to make progress. We were well aware that we needed a half-decent start to 2016, but we've a long way to go.

It helps you can get back-to-back wins and I hope that breeds a bit of confidence to kick on.''

Caley Thistle manager John Hughes was left lamenting cheap goals conceded as his side's six-game unbeaten run came to an end.

The visitors had not lost since the 3-1 defeat to Celtic at the end of November, but defeat, coupled with Dundee's win over Partick, saw them drop to seventh in the table.

Hughes was particularly critical of the way his side defended the second goal, with David Raven and Gary Warren both failing to clear properly.

The second goal was a wonderful strike, but we've got two chances to clear the ball. I'm the kind of guy that likes to see good football and if a good football goal is scored against my side I'll stand up and applaud it. But we can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot,'' he said.

These goals we're conceding are certainly avoidable. To come away from home and concede two goals and expect to win, it's probably not going to happen. But we gave it a good go, got ourselves back in the game and bombarded them in the last 20 minutes.

All credit to Kilmarnock for getting the three points.''