AMONG the immediate obligations which faced Gary Locke when he took over at Kilmarnock last month was to assemble the first-team squad at Rugby Park.

The team meeting was an opportunity to confirm to the players that Allan Johnston had earlier been dismissed, to brief them on the club's reasons and for Locke to present himself as the interim manager. Some of those present were certain that they had already been introduced. "Managers are always the same as they were as a player and Gary was a leader on the park, he was determined, he had passion," said Manuel Pascali, who played alongside Locke during the Italian's first season at Kilmarnock.

The rest of the side are by now acquainted with the methods of their new manager too. The four matches which have followed his appointment have been negotiated without Kilmarnock suffering a defeat - a goalless draw with St Johnstone on Saturday also comprised only a second clean sheet since December - with erstwhile assistant manager Locke now leading from the front.

The parameters of the technical area alone prevented him from practising a literal interpretation of that managerial tenet at the weekend. Locke remained as close to the game as he could get, the 39-year-old content to walk the touchline like a tightrope at McDiarmid Park despite the persistent heavy rain and light showers of hoofed clearances as an industrious home side were resisted. He joined his players in facing up to rough conditions in Perthshire with the ambition of sharing a smoother transition into the top half of the SPFL Premiership in the coming weeks, with Kilmarnock just five points behind sixth-place Dundee.

Locke referred afterwards to a Kilmarnock team which proved its "work rate, effort and commitment". But this is the public language of a manager. The words he speaks privately to his squad will be of greater significance if they are to finish among the top six for the first time in four years, as the voice of experience has been quietened on the pitch as a result of injuries. "That has to be our target. Hopefully it will not be too late," said Pascali, whose side have turned to the development squad to plug gaps created by the long-term loss of Mark Connolly and Jamie Hamill.

"[Locke] told us straight away that he wants us to compete first. The team reflects how their manager is and I think you can see that - we are fighting for every single ball. The spirit is back. We would have lost this game [against St Johnstone] earlier in the season."

The Perth side will reflect that they might have lost the match themselves on Saturday after Chris Johnston, Craig Slater and Nathan Eccleston laid siege to the St Johnstone goal following a late counter attack. It brought a moment of agitation for the hosts which would not be salved by the confirmation around 10 minutes later of the final scores elsewhere - with Dundee maintaining a two-point advantage over St Johnstone in the table despite surrendering all three points to lowly Ross County.

"When we look at the table we think it is two points dropped," said Tam Scobbie, who made a crucial block to deny Eccleston. "In the final third we've maybe just not been up to scratch. But it's another clean sheet, which is a step in the right direction."

With a match away to champions Celtic to come on Wednesday night, resilience is something which the St Johnstone squad will hope to get to know a little better the next time they get together.