‘The buck stops with me,’ Jackie concedes
DUNDEE UNITED boss Jackie McNamara refused to hide after seeing his side slump to second bottom in the table — and then admitted he could be out of a job if their sorry sequence continues.
McNamara’s side suffered their fourth straight league defeat as Kilmarnock left Tayside toasting their first league win of the season thanks to Kevin McHattie’s dramatic 88th-minute winner.
Billy Mckay bagged his first goal for United since moving on loan from Wigan as his spot-kick cancelled out Kallum Higginbotham’s 44th-minute opener from the spot for Gary Locke’s Ayrshire visitors.
But it was another day of dejection for the Tangerines as a small group of fans called for the manager’s head at the end.
McNamara said: ‘It’s part and parcel of my job and I have to accept that. The buck stops with me. If the results are not there then I won’t be here, pure and simple.
‘I’d be more concerned if we weren’t playing the right way or creating chances.
‘We could do with a little bit of luck in front of goal. It says ‘defeat’ in the records but I’ll take the positives. We can’t keep doing that though.
‘To be honest, I’d have been disappointed with a draw. It was there for everyone to see that we should have had the game wrapped up.
‘On any other day we might win but, at the end of the day, it’s three points we haven’t won.
‘That’s the result. It’s disappointing, although I’d be more worried if we didn’t play in the style we’d like and create the opportunities in front of goal like we did.
‘I said before the game that someone is going to take a hiding from us and it should have been this one.’
Meanwhile, jubilant Killie boss Locke saluted his stars for their first win of the new season.
He said: ‘It gets the monkey off our backs. We’re not going to get carried away but if we can keep this up then I still feel we can do well this season.
‘I’m a happy man for a change and we’re all just delighted with the three points, and the performance even more so.’