Picking up points the priority for McCulloch

KILMARNOCK manager Lee McCulloch appreciates praise from his Celtic counterpart Brendan Rodgers — but knows it is getting points on the board at Rugby Park that will ease the pressure at the bottom of the SPFL Premiership.

Rodgers described the former Rangers captain as an ‘outstanding manager’ after his Celtic team won 2-0 in Ayrshire to leave Killie with no points from three home games in the league so far this season.

They face Hamilton on home soil on Saturday and McCulloch understands what is at stake.

‘It’s very flattering to hear Brendan speak about me like that,’ he said. ‘I think he knows how hard I’m working and what we’re trying to do.

‘It’s very humbling to hear words from a man of that stature, but we’ll be looking to kick on now. We need to start picking up points.

‘In the last seven years, it’s been the worst home form in the club’s history. I would love someone to tell me why that is, because there have been different managers, different players, different pitch. I would quite like to find the answer to that, but it had nothing to do with the performance today.

‘I didn’t even look at how many fans we had. What we did say when we met the fans’ groups is that it’s easy for teams to come and play in this 18,000-seater stadium with no pressure.

‘I’ve been here before with two different teams and it was a hard place to play as it used to be a pretty intense atmosphere. For some reason, we’ve got away from that a little bit and it’s easier for the away team to play here than it is for us.’

McCulloch (above) is interested in using his relationship with Rodgers to investigate taking more players on loan from Celtic following the success of Kristoffer Ajer last season.

‘If Brendan, John (Kennedy) and Chris (McCart) can help us out, they said they would be more than happy to do so,’ he revealed. ‘So I asked for Kris again and they said no!

‘I’ve got a great relationship with him and it was in the plan last year that he would come back again, but he’s kicked on.

‘Same with Anthony Ralston. After the 5-0 game (in the Betfred Cup), I was asked how it felt to be beaten by such a young team, but Anthony is going to be Scotland’s right-back soon, in my opinion. That’s how good he is.’