The Northern Irishman took charge of the Buddies on a three-year deal from NIFL Premiership club Coleraine in September following the departure of Alan Stubbs.

The Paisley side had lost three of their four opening league fixtures and sat second bottom following their return to the Premiership and it has been a struggle since.

Kearney revamped his squad during the January transfer window and they have shown signs of recovery in their last three games with two wins and a draw which sees them one point behind second-bottom Dundee and four behind Hamilton.

Ahead of the home Premiership clash against Kilmarnock on Monday night, Kearney said: "We have to be patient and we have, I suppose, had to have a plan and understanding of what our season was going to look like.

"It was obvious for me, early days, that most of our points were going to need to come in this final part of the season because of what was going to happen in January because of the transition which was going to come along with that.

"It is moving in that direction, the way we want to move it.

"As I say there are 10 massive games left and we still have a huge amount of points to lift."

Killie have now gone eight games in all competitions without a win after topping the table in December but Kearney remains "wary" of the fourth-placed Ayrshire side as he does with every opponent.

He said: "I don't think we read too much into previous games.

"Yes we look at them and they will look at us but I think it is about who turns up on the night.

"Coming back from Christmas, they maybe haven't had it the way they would have liked but with a side as consistent as that, it is so important that we get our performance level right.

"When you meet sides that are able to produce that week-in-week-out, you know it is going to take a big performance to get a result."

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