HOLT LINKED TO KILLIE JOB
But boss fully focused on dumping County
Livingston boss Gary Holt has emerged as one of the favourites for the vacant Kilmarnock job — but is focusing solely on the Lions jumping above Ross County with a win on Saturday.
Killie got rid of Angelo Alessio following a disappointing run, which included a 3-0 loss to Holt’s Livingston, and talk of unrest among the players.
Holt, who lives in Kilmarnock and spent a successful six years at Rugby Park as a player, is considered second favourite behind interim boss Alex Dyer.
But all he’s thinking about for now is getting the better of Ross County when the Highlanders make the long trip south to
West Lothian at the weekend. The Lions recorded an emphatic 4-1 victory in the reverse fixture in August and the gaffer says the incentive of knowing they will climb above the Staggies if they get the three points is ‘massive’.
Speaking to the Courier he said: “It’s a huge game for both teams.
“They’ve hit a bit of form recently and we’re four games unbeaten and obviously keen to build on that.
“We get the added incentive of knowing that if we win we go above them and that would be massive.
“I’ve said since day one that we only look at the team above us and try to catch them.
That’s who we aim for. The team above us right now is Ross County and we play them on Saturday.
“We want to be at it, we want to pick up the points but we know that we need to be at it and we need to be mentally tough and strong.
“We need to go about the game the same way we have done but we also need to be professional enough not to concede the goals that we have done because they’ve been poor goals.”
Holt hopes to have full- back Aaron Taylor-Sinclair back fit after he was substituted at half-time last weekend.
But the manager insisted the mentality won’t change regardless of who’s healthy. He said: We’re hoping that Aaron will make it. He came off injured on Saturday and that saw us change the shape a wee bit but we’ll see how he recovers during the week.
“We had a full squad of 18 last week and they all gave their all – and no matter who is available, we’ll go in with a game plan to try and get the win.
“That’s what we do, that’s what I believe in. Whether it’s home, away or Timbuktu, we want to win games of football and no matter who we play or who is fit, we set the team out to go for the win and Saturday will be no different.”