KILMARNOCK boss Derek McInnes has urged his players to use Rugby Park to rejuvenate their cinch Premiership season when they host St Johnstone on Wednesday night.
The promoted Ayrshire club have won just one out of eight league games since coming up from the Championship and sit 11th in the table with four points.
McInnes pointed to the fact that five of the last six games in all competitions have been on the road, however, and has called on his team to get back on track at home.
“It is good being at home,” said the 51-year-old, whose side have suffered three straight defeats, the most recent a 4-1 loss at Aberdeen on Saturday.
“We have not been at home since Motherwell (August 27).
“In the two home games we had outwith Celtic, where we got turned over, we picked up four points from six, against Dundee United and Motherwell.
“We have had a run of games away from home, three in a row.
“We now have two home games (St Johnstone and Hearts) and it is now important to try to show that confidence more in in our performances, hopefully replicate similar levels of the performances we have had at home.
“The level of goals we lost at the weekend was poor and we have got to give ourselves the best chance to win.
“It is important that we get back to winning ways and hopefully we do that (on Wednesday) night.
“We feel as if we are in a mini-league of our own at the bottom with a few other teams and we want to make sure that, come the World Cup break, we are higher than where we are now.”
Despite a difficult start to the league campaign, McInnes retains confidence in his squad.
He said: “We have another window in January but I have a lot of belief in the players here.
“A lot of them met the responsibility to get the team promoted.
“There was a lot of pressure on them to win every week and they dealt with that.
“It is obviously a different type of pressure, there is not the same expectation but there is the same demand to win games, particularly at home.
“If we can be a strong home team, as we have been since I came in, but start to pick up some more points on the road, then we won’t be far away but I feel we are not a million miles away.”
McInnes noted St Johnstone’s return to form as Callum Davidson’s side will travel to Ayrshire with two victories and a draw from their last three games, following one win in five.
The former McDiarmid Park boss said: “They have managed to get a couple of good victories, none more so than a convincing win at Tannadice.
“So they have that wee bit of extra confidence but we have to concentrate and focus on ourselves.”
