Spring was certainly in the air on a pleasantly sunny Ayrshire afternoon yesterday and Kilmarnock had a sprightly spring in their step as well as they hoisted themselves up into third place in the Ladbrokes Premiership with a comprehensive clattering of Hamilton.

A quintet of goals from Greg Taylor, Conor McAleny, Youssouf Mulumbu, Chris Burke and Mikael Ndjoli had those of a Kilmarnock persuasion cooing like a pigeon on a first date as the Rugby Park side took another significant step toward securing European football next season.

Hamilton manager Brian Rice, meanwhile, wore the face of a man who’d forgotten to put his clocks forward and missed the check-in for a flight. His troops were missing in action during a dismal display.

“That’s the most embarrassed I’ve ever been in 40 years in the game,” said Rice. “I’m sickened by that performance. It was a distinct lack of desire and guts. Kilmarnock were excellent but, by god, we were bad.”

The writing was on the wall for Hamilton as early as the fifth minute as Kilmarnock’s general gusto was rewarded with a cracking opener.

Mulumbu’s vision and accuracy to pick out Taylor with a missile of a pass was terrific. Taylor’s subsequent control of the ball and finish of authority put the icing on the cake.

It was the first professional goal for a player who scored an historic winner for Scotland’s under-20s against Brazil a couple of years ago. “I can’t say that goal was better than beating Brazil, but if it helps us get towards Europe, it might be,” he said with a smile.

There was still one goal in it at half-time but Kilmarnock upped the ante after the break as Hamilton crumbled.

McAleny stroked in from close range on 55 minutes before Mulumbu added a third eight minutes later. Burke’s deflected effort made it four with six minutes to go before Ndjoli thundered a searing strike into the net on the angle to complete the rout.

“Europe would be a great achievement,” said Kilmarnock assistant, Alex Dyer. “The lads were excellent today, every single one of them.”