Speaking after the match, he said: “I had to apologise to the fans the last time we played at home, thankfully I never had to do that as we turned up tonight.

“Getting the first points on the board is always important, but to do it in the manner that we did — against a top team — shows the quality of our side.

“Maybe we haven’t shown it so far, but hopefully we can go on now and have a good season.” Having already pegged Celtic back after losing an early goal, only to go 2-1 down before the crucial penalty, the pressure was on Kallum Higginbotham to win Killie a hard-earned point as he took the spot kick.

He never showed it though, as he beat Craig Gordon with an audacious chip to make it 2-2 much to the delight, and relief, of Locke.

He said: “The way he approached the penalty is one of the reasons I brought Kallum to the club and I don’t know what I would have said if he had missed it, but the most important thing for me is that it goes in.

“I always felt we were playing well in the game and our front four, especially Josh ( Magennis, who scored Killie’s first goal) and obviously there will be a period in the game where Celtic are going to have a lot of possession.

“But I always felt with our counter-attacking and going forward was going to cause them a few problems, and the pleasing thing is that we created a few chances.

“All-in-all I am pleased with the performance and it gives us the chance to kick on from here,” Locke accepted that Killie deserved the level of criticism that they got after losing 4-0 to Dundee in the opening match, which they accepted having played so badly.

“Hopefully we have redeemed ourselves with the fans and will push on from here,” he added.

Killie are going to have to do so without Chris Johnston who injured his cruciate knee ligament in training the day before the Celtic match, Locke revealed.

He added: “I am gutted for the lad. It will be a hard eight or nine months for him but we will be there for him, and will be right behind him as he fully recovers.”