Rory McKenzie is baffled by Kilmarnock's downturn in form

Kilmarnock forward Rory McKenzie is puzzled by the team's sudden downturn in form, and insists a solution must be found soon to prevent a nervy end to the campaign.

Gary Locke was given the manager’s job full-time last month after just one defeat in eight league games in caretaker charge of the club.

But the Rugby Park side have taken a dangerous slide towards the relegation play-off places after successive defeats to Ross County, Motherwell and Aberdeen.

Killie now sit just seven points above second from bottom Motherwell and McKenzie is unable to explain why things have gone so wrong in such a short period.

And Kilmarnock travel to Celtic Park on Wednesday to face the league leaders, hoping to pull off a shock.

"No one knows why we have dropped off in the last few weeks,” McKenzie said. "It just seems in the first half we are good, and in the second things don't work - and vice-versa.

"It's vital we try and regain some form and put the relegation play-off to bed. If we had won on Sunday against Aberdeen, we'd have had a 10-point lead and that would have been quite a big gap for Motherwell to claw back.

"But now it's seven and we need to try and get back to winning ways or we could find ourselves sucked into that fight to avoid finishing 11th.

"They don't come much harder than Celtic away and it will be a tough match - but three points would be massive for us, especially with the games coming up after the split."