STEVE Clarke last night stated that people who had predicted Kilmarnock could win the Scottish title had been "talking out their backsides" - despite major Rugby Park shareholder Billy Bowie claiming they could "do a Leicester".

Clarke's team was toppled off top spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership yesterday when they were beaten 5-1 by defending champions Celtic at Parkhead.

And afterwards the former West Brom and Reading boss stressed that nobody at the Ayrshire club, who moved into first place in the top flight with a 2-0 win over Livingston at home on Wednesday night, had suggested they could win the league.

"We didn't speak about titles, nobody at Kilmarnock spoke about titles," he said. "There was a million questions from you guys (the media) and people talking out their backsides, if I may say. It's not that important for us.

"We know where we are and where we're trying to get to and we doing alright, 14 months in we're doing okay. It's a lot better than last December, we've got many more points than we had last year.

"We still have four games to go (until the winger shutdown) and I've said to the boys if we can pick up as many points as possible from that then we can go into the winter break satisfied with the first half of the season.

"Congratulations to Celtic today but no drama for Kilmarnock."

When it was pointed out to Clarke that Bowie had been among those who thought Kilmarnock could stay in top spot, he said: "Billy's the owner. He can say what he wants, he pays my wages. Billy's entitled to do that.

"Billy actually said very similar to what I've just said that we are very happy with the progress the club's made and everybody can dream.

"I said supporters can dream. As well as being the major shareholder, Billy's a supporter of the club. He's allowed to dream. We know where we are and where we're trying to get to and we're doing alright."