Derek McInnes: I trust my Killie players to turn poor form around

Derek McInnes says he has trust in his Kilmarnock players to find form and finish the season strongly after a disappointing campaign so far.

Killie have picked up just one point from their last five games with defeats to Aberdeen, Rangers, Ross County and St Mirren and a draw with Hibs.

That has left them languishing in tenth place and only a point ahead of second-bottom Dundee in the relegation play-off place with seven games remaining.

The Ayrshire side suffered a heavy loss to the Buddies last weekend, which ended any faint hopes of finishing in the top half of the Premiership again.

Stephen Robinson’s men ended a long run of poor results against KIllie with a thumping 5-1 win in Paisley to keep their chances of finishing in the top six alive.

But McInnes insists his squad have to put that behind them as they prepare to host Motherwell at Rugby Park on Saturday.

“We are in a league where the games are usually tight and have been tight for the majority of the season, so when you lose in the manner we lost last weekend it’s a sore one to take, and now it’s all about how we respond,” he said.

“It was tough for us all on Saturday, but we aren’t feeling sorry for ourselves because we have a job to do.

“I have worked with this squad for long enough and I trust the players, no matter what people say I know these boys care.

“This is basically the same squad who exceeded expectations last season, so they deserve a bit of trust and I certainly trust the way I work.

“This is probably the first little spell since I’ve been here when fingers can get pointed because we are maybe not reaching our expectations.

“There are still a lot of games to play, so we just have to focus on that, batten down the hatches and get on with it.

“We trust how we work, and it works well; in my 14 years as a Premiership manager, there’s ten of those, with St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, that I’ve finished in the top four.”