Joe Wright says Kilmarnock performances have been good ahead of trip to Aberdeen

Joe Wright looks back even further than Kilmarnock’s two recent wins for encouragement ahead of the trip to Aberdeen in the Premiership on Saturday.

Killie beat struggling St Johnstone 3-1 at Rugby Park last weekend to follow on from the 1-0 home win over Dundee United in their previous outing.

It was successive wins for only the second time this season, leaving Derek McInnes’ men in seventh place behind St Mirren on goal difference, with seven games remaining before the split.

However, Wright believes performances prior to those victories also offered succour as they prepare to face a Dons side who have also won their last two fixtures to indicate a return to form after a slump.

“A lot of it comes down to mentality, probably confidence as well,” said the 29-year-old defender.

“Probably the form we are in at the minute helps going into games.

“If you’re going into the games confident, it obviously gives you a little bit more of an edge, rather than going in there a bit apprehensive.

“But I don’t think it’s necessarily just those two games. I think for a while we’ve looked a lot more solid.

“We’ve had a few results where we should have probably got more from the game.

“So performances have been good recently, and we’ve got to keep that going.

“It’s positive for them (Aberdeen). It is quite similar to the situation we had with St Johnstone.

“We got them at probably a bad time as well in terms of they were on a good run of form, they had won two in the league and two in the cup.

“Aberdeen getting a win at the weekend again, obviously boosts confidence for them and makes it a little bit more difficult.”

Wright, who signed from Doncaster in July 2022, is out of contract at the end of the season but he is focusing on helping Killie to a top-six finish and with it hopefully a European place again.

The former Wales Under-21 player said: “It’s not really on your mind.

“I’ll be honest, I just want to perform as best as I can, whether I’m training or on the pitch, especially when the games are coming.

“We’ve got to a run of fixtures now, where they’ll be coming thick and fast. You don’t have time to think about it, to be honest.

“Games are Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, so your focus is on the games, especially when it’s as tight as it is in the league at the moment, you just want to pick up results and have positive performances.”