McCulloch breaths sigh of relief as Killie secure top flight status
Lee McCulloch was a relieved man after Kilmarnock secured their Premiership status with a 2-1 win over struggling Inverness.
Last updated 14th May 2017
Lee McCulloch was a relieved man after Kilmarnock secured their Premiership status with a 2-1 win over struggling Inverness.
Sean Longstaff and Jordan Jones struck either side of the break, meaning Alex Fisher's consolation counted for nothing as Killie hit the 40-point mark.
It means that caretaker boss McCulloch, who took over when Lee Clark left for Bury earlier this year, and his players can enjoy their final two games of the season against Motherwell and Ross County.
“It was a wee bit nervy in the last 15 minutes but compared to last week, it's massive,” said McCulloch. “The dressing are together, they're with each other and believe in what myself, Peter (Leven) and Paul MacDonald are trying to do.
“Now we are safe we can enjoy it, but we look forward to a tough game on Tuesday.”
Turning his thoughts to the various performances at Rugby Park, he added: “Jordan can be frustrating but when he's on it, he can go to any level he wants to go to.
“We've spoke to him about it. As long as he stays dedicated and doing the right things away from football, which he does, he can go far.
“Adam Frizzell coming in, having not played for a while, putting in a performance like that was brilliant to watch. I see him in the middle - he needs to be on the ball a lot.
“Greg Kiltie is still not match-fit so we need to get him game time but I thought big Conor (Sammon) worked really hard, too.”
Caley Thistle manager Richie Foran was once again left to rue individual errors as his side slipped closer to the Premiership trapdoor.
Ryan Esson's failure to gather a cross led to the first goal and Inverness were caught on the counter for the second.
It means they are now four points adrift of safety, with Hamilton able to secure their top-flight status with a win at Ross County on Tuesday.
“I'm proud of the players, proud of the performance, their attitude and desire. There was a lot of quality in the second half but big moments in games didn't go for us,” said Foran.
“We had Alex Fisher through on goal inside the first five minutes, a big chance, and unfortunately another individual mistake gave their goal.
“You could see the confidence was affected in a couple of players but we kept going and made some changes. In the second half we created chances and came close but ultimately came up short.
“But the players didn't let us down today, that's for sure.”