Johnston staying upbeat

Killie's recent run of poor form continued when they went down at the hands of Jackie McNamara's third-top United side, even though Manual Pascali had brought them level by cancelling out Nadir Ciftci's early opener with a 38th-minute equaliser.

The Ayrshire club are searching to regain the heights which they hit earlier in the season which saw them make a solid start and Johnston is sure they can do so by retaining their self-belief and confidence.

He said: "It's about moving on.

"We know we've got good players and it's just about trying to get back to winning ways.

"We want to turn things round obviously.

"And the good thing is we're still confident in our own ability.

"This run is frustrating especially when you give a quality team like Dundee United an easy second goal like we did.

"But we know where we want to go and hopefully it will just take one win and we can get going again.

"There are some positives we can take from this game and build on them for our next match.

"We won't become too disappointed because we're focusing on what is ahead of us."

Meanwhile, United manager McNamara had nothing but praise for his players for the manner in which they returned to winning ways to keep them in third spot in the league table.

McNamara said: "We've got to be pleased.

"Kilmarnock are always tough opponents and they have brought in some new players.

"There have been changes but we coped well today and played some decent stuff.

"In the end, we could have won by a bigger scoreline if you look at the number of chances we created.

"But the most important thing was getting the three points.

"There is a lot to be positive about just now."