JOHN McCORMACK, the former Queen's Park and Morton manager, yesterday took the surprising decision to quit as assistant manager at Stenhousemuir and move into junior football to manage Bellshill.

He will take over from Tommy Coyne, who quit the Super League West club last week after a disagreement.

Des McKeown, the Stenhousemuir manager, said: "There was always a chance this would happen.

When John came here it was on the understanding that if a manager's job became available for him, he would leave."

McKeown will take his time in assessing the situation before appointing a new assistant at Ochilview.

Partick Thistle will today complete the signing of defender Scott McCulloch on a one-year deal after he negotiated his release from Ayr United