Derek McInnes admits the fightback can only come within after Kilmarnock hit rock bottom in the cinch Premiership.

The Rugby Park manager has implored his hurting players, beaten 4-0 by Dundee United on Wednesday, to quickly rediscover their spark ahead of tomorrow's visit of Hibernian.

A disastrous night at Tannadice was encapsulated by McInnes making three first-half substitutes and he revealed a frank dressing post-mortem followed, one he hopes will be the catalyst for recovery.

“We have to lift ourselves," the 51-year-old said. "We have to show we care and I thought we got that second half.

“That was a step in the right direction but for Saturday we can’t just move on from it. We were back in on Thursday and spoke about it. 

“I had a chat in the dressing room already about some self-reflection of what is needed. We need to find a fight amongst us to get going again. 

“Hopefully, we can win Saturday. Football can be like that - you can be so far down and feeling rotten about yourself but football can give you that lift. 

"The only people who can help us are ourselves and we will go again."

Kilmarnock are winless on the road since returning to the top-flight, scoring just once, but home comforts at Rugby Park have offered some respite.
McInnes knows, however, that won't be enough across an entire season.

“We have lost tight games, Hibs, Livingston and Ross County 1-0. There have been plenty of matches where we have been well in the game, but we need to carry more threat.

"We normally go with the same system but you are right it isn’t good enough. Sometimes you can pick up a 0-0 like at St Mirren.  

“If you are not going to win the game then make sure you get something from it. We need to start to show we are good enough to pick up points on the road and hopefully some wins.

“We need to have a confidence. I see that in us at home and there shouldn’t be a difference, but for whatever reason there is a huge difference in our points-per-game tally at home compared to away from home.

"We need to find the solution quickly.”

READ MORE: