IRVINE Meadow were rocked on Monday night when assistant John Quinn left to take over the job at former club Kello Rovers.

The news came 48 hours after Meadow suffered their first league defeat of the season, going down 4-0 away to Petershill in the Super First Division.

Meadow boss Wilson, who teamed up with Quinn to steer Kello Rovers to promotion to the Super First Division last season, has pulled in former fans' favourite Jimmy Noble, who played with the club for a spell, as well as steering Knockentiber Ams to Scottish Amateur Cup glory in 1997, to help him with coaching.

He said: "The timing is not great but Ross wants to be his own man and has made his decision. I know Jimmy, he works with the youth set-up as Meadow and he will help me with the first team."

Meanwhile Andy Strachan has indicated he wants to leave the club and fellow defender Craig Buchanan will replace him after making a return to the club.

Wilson added: "Andy has said he wants to move on. We are only interested in people who are committed to the club."

The boss is not too downcast despite the Peasy defeat but wants an improvement as Meadow host Renfrew on Saturday.

He said: "It's unacceptable for a club like Irvine Meadow to lose 4-0 at Petershill but if you picked a game you had to lose it would be that as they are the title favourites. We missed chances on Saturday but there are still 69 points to be played for and we must look to win on Saturday. We have six points, had we drawn at Petershill and at Troon we would only have five."