It was the Chinese who came up with the curse “May you live in interesting times” and, for the small but passionate band who follow the fortunes of Livingston, these are very interesting times indeed.

On the surface, there would appear to be little to worry about. In 2018 the West Lothian club returned to Scottish football’s elite division after a 12-year absence and they have maintained that status for six seasons now.

Yet concerns remain. In spite of surviving on the smallest budget in the Premiership, in August they posted losses of £819, 220 for their latest financial year and chairman John Ward warned that a top-six finish would be required this season if a similar outcome is to be avoided.

The following month the club was taken over by Baycup Limited, a company which Companies House website reveals was incorporated on August 24 of this year.

Majority shareholder John McIlvogue then took the unusual step of claiming that he had not purchased the club in order to syphon money from it.  

"I had spoken to somebody about previous people coming in to the club and stripping all the assets and what not but the reality is that there are no assets to strip: there is nothing [left] to take,” he said.

McIlvogue went on to describe manager Davie Martindale as, “pound-for-pound, the best manager in the SPFL”, claiming that the 49-year-old, who has been operating without a contract, merits a long-term deal. That has yet to be signed.

Livingston also have 18 members of their first-team squad (11 of whom took part at Rugby Park on Saturday) who will become free agents at the end of the current campaign and that defeat saw them drop, temporarily at least, into the bottom half of the table.

They are just three points ahead of Ross County in the play-off position, having played two matches more than the Highlanders. Former Rangers and Hearts midfielder Jason Holt, confessed that their display in Ayrshire was unacceptable.

“In my opinion, that was the worst we’ve played all season,” said the 30-year-old. “To go one down, get ourselves back in the game and then lose another goal so quickly was a real blow but we didn’t deserve anything from the game.

“I genuinely don’t know what went wrong. We were all just really flat and couldn’t seem to get a grip of the game at all. To be fair, I thought they were better than us in all areas of the park.

“Losing the goals the way we did was hard to take but that was probably the most disappointing aspect.

“The international break coming when it did possibly didn’t help us. We spoke before the kick-off about how this was a chance for us to win back-to-back games and give ourselves some real momentum.

“We’d performed really well to beat Motherwell before the break but this was like the polar opposite of that day.

“Now we need to find a way to get back to those levels against Dundee at our place on Saturday and then away to Hearts the following Wednesday.”

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Livingston have won only one of their last seven outings and were outfought and outplayed (“bullied” was the description Martindale used – and not in a disparaging way) by Derek McInnes’ side.

The home fans probably assumed they would take at least a point once Danny Armstrong’s emphatic finish from Corrie Ndaba’s cross gave them an early lead: the wide man has scored for the hosts in 16 matches, 15 of which have been one and the other drawn.

Sean Kelly restored parity with his third successful penalty conversion this season after Brad Lyons had inadvertently impeded Mo Sangare but that proved to be the visitors’ only attempt on target and Killie captain Kyle Vassell, with two superb headers, provided his team with the victory they merited.

It hoisted the Ayrshire club into fifth place and Armstrong sees no reason why they cannot qualify for a place in Europe next season.

“I don’t see why we can’t be in the mix for a European place,” claimed the 26-year-old. “When I came here, the first challenge was getting out of the Championship and we did that.  

“After that we needed to stay in the Premiership and we did that, too. Now the next test for us is to have something more - we need to strive for more.  

“Everyone at the club believes that if we perform like we did against Livi and the fans turn up in their numbers then why can’t we achieve it?  

“We have quality in our squad plus a great staff so, yes, it’s something we should all be looking to achieve.    

“Even last year – when we were fighting to stay up - we beat every team other than Rangers and Celtic. This year we’ve beaten both of them.  

“I think we’re more than capable of beating every team in this league but it’s all well and good me saying that - we all need to go and show that and believe we can do it.  

“If we play like we did on Saturday, it gives us confidence to keep pushing up the league. We need to try and hang around this top six for as long as possible, keep putting in performances and keep picking up points.”