BRENDAN Rodgers admitted last night that he and his Celtic players are feeling the heat after succumbing to the 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock which make it the club’s worst league start for 20 years.

A last-gasp winning goal from former Celtic defender Stuart Findlay at Rugby Park means the Parkhead side sit sixth in the table this morning, having taken just ten points from their opening six matches. This is their worst opening spell to a domestic campaign since Dr Jozef Venglos’ side took nine from their first six matches back in 1998-99, a campaign which ended with Rangers winning the treble.

Facing anger from some members of the travelling support at the final whistle, Rodgers admitted the spotlight is on his side as never before during his previously imperious reign at the club. Already six points behind leaders Hearts, the remainder of a fraught week sees them travel to Perth for a BetFred Cup quarter final tie against St Johnstone then host Aberdeen – who sit one spot below them in the Premiership standings in seventh – at Celtic Park on Saturday.

“It’s a challenge,” said Rodgers. “We have to accept that. There’s no doubt we need to be better. When you’re at the biggest clubs and you don’t win the heat comes onto you. That’s when you show you’re a Celtic player, manager, member of staff. You come together. When you lose games the spotlight will always be on you. You need to do the basics right. The basics cost us this time.”

While the match moved his winless run in battles against his old Chelsea youth team colleague Steve Clarke onto four matches – two draws and two defeats - Rodgers said he felt an improvement in the general standard of opposition had contributed to his team’s form slump. Kilmarnock were among the teams who leapfrogged them yesterday, but he wouldn’t be looking too much at the table until the first ten matches were out of the way.

“Is the table a concern?” he said. “Not at this point. We look at it after ten games. We never get too carried away when winning and we won’t get carried away when we’re in the position we are. But there’s no doubt we have to be better.

“The start hasn’t been great, we have to accept that,” he added. “We’re the only ones who can make it better and get more consistent results. It’s been very bitty but we have to go away and see where we can be better.

“I think teams have got better,” he added. “I also think there’s a new-found respect playing against Celtic. At St Mirren we saw it. You saw Rangers come and sit deep, Kilmarnock did that too. It’s up to us, we have to find the answers to that. That’s the job. We have to analyse the game and build the mentality to win your next game.”

A bad day for the Celtic manager started early, when on-loan Leicester City defender Filip Benkovic pulled up during the warm-up on the artificial surface of Rugby Park with an Achilles tendon injury. “Unfortunately, he felt his Achilles in the warmup,” said Rodgers. “He had an issue with it eight months ago. On the surface he felt it tighten so he wasn’t fit to play. We will have to see how that is. Hopefully it’s not too bad. From being injured before he perhaps felt the same sensation and rightly didn’t want to risk it. He will have a scan and we will see where we are at.”

While he felt the result was harsh on his side, Rodgers shouldered the blame. “I’d have been disappointed to draw but to lose is bitterly disappointing,” he said. “It was a scrappy sort of game but I still feel we had the better moments and more control. Two basic situations cost us. I’m so disappointed. I take the responsibility for that. You make the changes to try to bring that energy and brightness which might not be there if you’ve played Thursday.”