Preston Athletic have confirmed that former player Willie Kirk has taken over as the club’s new manager, succeeding David Bingham.

Kirk, who has also had a spell in charge of Hibs Ladies, is focused on keeping the club in the Lowland League.

He took charge of his first game at the weekend, but was unable to guide the club to their first win of the season as they went down 2-0 to Gretna 2008 at the Pennypit.

Bingham left the county side after a string of disappointing results and with the club bottom of the Lowland League and Kirk takes over with the club still looking for their first win of this term.

The 36-year-old would have been encouraged by his side’s performance in the first half, when they should have taken the lead as Sean Martin fired over with the goal at his mercy, before Ryan Moore dragged an effort wide of goal.

And their bad fortune would continue as they succumbed to two second-half goals to condemn the Prestonpans club to a 10th straight defeat in all competitions.

And he told Courier Sport that his main aim was to steer the club away from the bottom of the table.

He said: “I don’t think anyone will go down because of the licensing and because of the teams capable of winning the league below, but you don’t want to stay up by default.

“I would be disappointed if we finished second bottom, because it’s about getting us up the table and building for next season. We want to make the club an attractive option for players for next season.” Meanwhile, club chairman Andy Grant is hopeful that the new manager can help the club avoid relegation.

He told Courier Sport: “We’re really pleased to get someone as high quality as Willie.

“He played with Preston so he knows the club well, and Bob Baillie is staying on as one of his coaches so it’s like the old guard coming to help us out.” Despite no wins in their last 10, Grant has been encouraged by recent performances.

The chairman added: “There’s been a vast improvement in the last few weeks – once we get the first win we’ll hopefully push on and start climbing the league a bit.

“It’s not good to be speaking only of survival when we’re not even at Christmas, but we’re rock bottom and out of the Scottish Cup so survival is our main focus now.”