CUMNOCK Juniors made it six matches unbeaten on Saturday, as they defeated Irvine Meadow 1-0 at Townhead Park.

Luke Watt's penalty was the difference between the two sides as Murdo MacKinnon's side made it three wins and three draws in their last half a dozen fixtures.

The impressive run has seen the East Ayrshire outfit climb to fourth place in the West of Scotland Football League Premier Division - though with Nock having played the most games of any team in the league that is likely to change.

However, despite the run Townhead Park boss MacKinnon says he still wants more from his side.

He told the Chronicle: “Six games unbeaten – I’m a greedy guy – that unbeaten patter doesn’t wash with me, I like to win games.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of big games and I’ve managed in a lot of big games, I like to win them. Drawing too many games is as bad as losing to a certain extent.

“But Rome wasn’t built in a day, everything’s got to start somewhere.”

And MacKinnon admitted he is happy with where Cumnock are starting, showing signs of improvement in recent weeks.

This recent run of results has also seen the side pick up their only their second and third clean sheets of the season - something the boss has been hoping for more of.

He commented: “We wanted to be more difficult to beat, in terms of keeping the back door shut. It’s a focus we’ve had to try and concede less goals and get as many clean sheets as we can.

“We’ve not done that as well as we could all season, before I came in or after I came in, so it’s been a major focus and something I have spoke about a lot as well.

“It’s been evident, there’s been a reason we’ve not won as many games as we could have – because we’ve not defended as a team, as a group."

Though MacKinnon is now pleased to see that his players are buying into this philosophy.

He continued: “The likes of last week we were 3-0 up and we conceded into injury time – but we were not happy about it – it’s a mentality shift.

“There’s been a slight change in shape which I think has helped with that but the biggest change has been the players – it’s not been me or staff.

“The credit goes to the players for me, in terms of the improvement we have seen recently.

“It would be dead easy for me to sit here and take credit but I’m a believer that this game is about players, it’s not about managers and coaches.

“We will continue to improve, we are not the finished article by any manner of means, we don’t turn into a top side overnight, that takes time, but there has been improvement there."

And he is confident that having brought in a few new recruits - with Ji Stevenson and Ruari Ellis recently coming in on loan - this will help continue to carry Cumnock on the right tracks.

MacKinnon added: “We’ve brought a few new boys in as well, no doubt it’s helped the players that are there.

“That’s not to say the players that are there aren’t good players, they just needed a hand in certain areas of the pitch.

“It’s different options, we were lucky enough to be able to do that, the club have supported us really well with that – well done them as well in terms of backing and supporting us.

“It’s dead easy to bring a manager in and think he’ll just wave a magic wand – that doesn’t work – bring him in, support him, back him, get his vision and support it and the guys behind the scene have done that.”