Derek McInnes admits Kilmarnock relief after Livingston win but insists he is not 'too obsessed' with table

There was no sign of Storm Babet in Ayrshire – but Kilmarnock still managed to blow Livingston away.

Kyle Vassell’s superb headed double after Danny Armstrong’s opener was temporarily cancelled out Sean Kelly’s spot kick sent Derek McInnes’ men into the top half of the table. And it also got Killie the league win they’d been pinning for since their stunning opening day success against Rangers. As the north east got battered by the weather, the sun was shining down in Kilmarnock and it was a breeze for the home side against a strangely lacklustre Livi.

But McInnes was beaming after getting back on the victory trail and all of a sudden the Premiership table makes sweet reading again. The boss said: “We needed to win. There was no getting away from it. I can sit here and go on about the positives – and there were some in the performances.

“We have been good in isolated games and these teams – Hearts, St Mirren, Hibs – they are good sides. These are not gimmes.

“So there were a lot of games in this run we’ve done okay in – but I didn’t enjoy looking at the league table. Obviously we knew we could go fifth today and while you don’t want to get too obsessed with the table when you’ve not played a quarter of the games, but I like where we are sitting now.

“Let’s see if we can hang about there as long as well can now. We just needed to win. We spoke about it during the weeks as it’s hard to keep being positive when the wins were not coming.”

Vassell promised in recent weeks a revival was on the cards and the hitman was true to his word. McInnes said: “I was disappointed he didn’t take the strike on when we were 1-0 up. He tried to square it but I like my centre forward to put his foot through it there.

“Every manager wants their