Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes has backed his squad to make the most of their home comforts and start climbing the table.
An injury-time Bruce Anderson penalty ensured Killie took a share of the spoils at Tannadice yesterday, although their winless run was extended to six games.
That run of form has them sitting just two points clear of bottom-placed Hibernian and one point ahead of Hearts – who they welcome to Rugby Park next Sunday.
The visit of Neil Critchley’s side sparks a run of five home games in seven and McInnes is adamant that the league table will look a lot healthier from a Killie perspective when that run comes to an end on January 8 against Motherwell.
The Ayrshire men have so far played only six of their 16 Premiership fixtures at home.
McInnes said: “It’s the next run of games, five at home out of the next seven, where we’ve got to really emphasise the importance of being a strong home team.
“I’ve said that to the players. If we can scrap and get points like against Dundee United, we’ve got superb performances. If we can deal with our home form as we’ve always done, then we’ll be where we want to be.”
He insists it’s their ability to produce the goods at Rugby Park that has brought them success in recent seasons and he sees no reason why that can’t be repeated this term.
He said: “We wouldn’t have won a championship if we didn’t address our home form and we did it.
“We wouldn’t have stayed in the league if we hadn’t addressed our home form and we did it. We wouldn’t have got to Europe last season without being a strong home team.
“For us to get to where we need to get to, there’s no dressing it up. We need to get back to being a strong team at home and start winning games at home.
“I fully believe the fixtures we’ve got, none more so than our big game on Sunday against Hearts, are the ones that we normally thrive on. It’s important that we do exactly that and come out of that January 8 home game against Motherwell more where we expect to be.”
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