Rory McKenzie: Kilmarnock need new manager boost to get back on track

Rory McKenzie insists Kilmarnock are in need of a new manager bounce after admitting the pre-season Championship title favourites are going backwards.

Kilmarnock players celebrate Rory McKenzie's opener in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Morton. (Photo by Sammy Turner / SNS Group)

The Rugby Park side are four points behind leaders Arbroath, without a home win since October and have collected just four points from the last 15 available after being held to a 1-1 draw by Morton on Wednesday night.

Tommy Wright was sacked on December 18 after an abandoned match against Dunfermline, with the score at 1-1, followed a run of three straight league defeats.

Head of football operations James Fowler has been taking the team while the Killie board close in on a new appointment, which for McKenzie cannot come soon enough.

“Stability will help. You usually get a boost when a manager comes in," the 28-year-old winger said. "We don’t know what is going on or if he was in the stand watching the game against Morton but we need that because we’re starting to go back a bit."

McKenzie scored a stunning long-range opener in the midweek fixture but said "it means nothing" after Alan Lithgow nodded home an equaliser for Morton in Dougie Imrie’s first match in charge.

"It doesn’t feel great," McKenzie admitted. "It is one, with everyone not playing tonight, it would have been a huge three points and it felt like a loss."

“It has been frustrating for a while. By half-time the game should have been done and dusted and you always know they will get a chance. They are very good from set pieces and I could almost feel it coming.

“The whole team need to respond. You look at every game we have had and if we score first we should be going on and winning the game and we aren’t doing that. If you put those chances away then you get away with the bad performances but we are not doing that and not scoring highlights how poor we have been at points."

Kilmarnock now have a 10-day break before travelling to Queen of the South on January 8 after their New Year derby against Ayr was rescheduled to February in light of crowd restrictions.

"It was definitely the right call to push it back,” McKenzie said. “I am glad we are not playing it in front of 500 odd people.”

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