WHO’D be a manager? Lee McCulloch may be in the running to take over the reins at Kilmarnock but you would’ve forgiven him for saying “sod that” after Aberdeen pinched the points with a devastating late salvo at Rugby Park yesterday.

“I have had a one-and-a-half minute conversation with the board so I will speak to them again this week,” said McCulloch. Funnily enough, that was just about as long as it took for the three points to slip from Kilmarnock’s grasp.

One goal to the good with just seven minutes to go, the hosts were left scratching their heads like Stan Laurel trying to fill in his tax return after Aberdeen substitutes Jayden Stockley and Peter Pawlett netted after 83 and 85 minutes respectively.

In stark contrast, Kilmarnock substitute Miles Addison, who had been called on to replace the injured Steven Smith, probably wished he’d stayed firmly rooted to the bench.

He was trying to stave off the advance of Adam Rooney — when he might have been better hoofing a bouncing ball into the stand — and didn’t see Stockley nipping in on the blind side. The Aberdeen man pounced on the defensive dithering to equalise.

Moments later, Addison was again in the not so merry midst of it when John McGinn’s cross dribbled down his thigh and fell to Pawlett, who smashed in a second. To complete Addison’s misery, the ball deflected off him on its way into the net.

McCulloch, in charge of the team after Lee Clark’s departure for Bury, said: “We came in at half-time and I said ‘we’re not used to winning against Aberdeen or Rangers or Celtic at half-time so let’s stay outside our comfort zone and keep playing the way we are playing’. For the most part we did that. And then we just had a crazy few minutes. It was a horrendous goal to lose and it gave them impetus to get another.”

Aberdeen were not so much dandy as modestly handy during an opening spell that was far from rousing. With the hosts sitting deep, the visitors were afforded plenty of possession and they should really have made an early breakthrough after 13 minutes when Jonny Hayes jinked his way into a shooting position on the angle of the area

 His shot took a wicked deflection which turned the ball into a spinning bundle of menace and as it hurtled into the six-yard box, Niall McGinn’s close-range poke was brilliantly saved by Freddie Woodman.

Aberdeen looked fairly comfortable but it was a well-drilled home side who forged an advantage as the interval approached. Jordan Jones laid a pass off to Ryan McKenzie and his crisply clattered shot sailed into the bottom corner.

Aberdeen had been rattled like the half-time crockery and Graeme Shinnie was brought on to replace Mark Reynolds to add a bit more attacking oomph. However, it was Kilmarnock who had a collective bawl for a penalty waved away when Conor Sammon toppled under a clumsy challenge from Ash Taylor.

Kris Boyd thumped a raking volley just wide before Aberdeen began to make some threatening inroads. Despite beetling about with just one boot on, Kenny McLean managed to stride forward and unleashed a shot with the foot that had a boot on but Woodman got down low to parry. McLean then had another go, surging forward with purpose only to pull his shot wide.

After Pawlett and Stockley’s double whammy, Kilmarnock tried to salvage something in the last knockings and Addison went down in the box as the meat in an Aberdeen defensive sandwich but no penalty was given.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes hailed his players for their fighting display. He said: “It is no coincidence that we have had a lot of late winners in my years at the club.

“I think it indicates that we have players on the bench who can change the game and the mind-set of the substitutes when they come on. 

“I also think it shows the determination of the players to keep going. Bringing Stockley and Pawlett on really changed the game. I don’t think we could have gone any more attacking.”