Kilmarnock defender Aaron McGowan has first-hand knowledge of the problems Hamilton are likely to cause his side on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Liverpudlian joined Kilmarnock last June after two seasons at the Lanarkshire club renowned for their desire to stay in the Scottish Premiership.

A win and a draw in their last two games, following a five-game losing streak, sees Alex Dyer’s side in eighth place, three points ahead of Accies and McGowan braced himself for a battle when the teams meet at Rugby Park.

The former Morecambe player said: “From my time there, I know that if you don’t do the basics, work hard and put your body on the line, it is not going to be a good weekend.

“The one thing that Hamilton always bring and I know because I was there a couple of years, they always bring energy and hard work and the basics.

“If you don’t want to do the dirty side of the game right, obviously without being overly aggressive, then you won’t take nothing from the game.

“You have to be up for it from the first whistle because Hamilton are a fighting club.

“They thrive off the underdog tag. That’s what they do as a football club.

“Every year journalists and pundits write them off and they just do what they do. So I am under no illusions. It will be a really difficult game this weekend so we have to be right up for it and hopefully we are.

“We have to be ready and I am sure with the quality that we have in our squad, we can go out and get three points.”

McGowan is aware that only five points separate seventh-placed St Mirren and bottom side Ross County.

He said: “We are under no illusions of where we are in the league.

“We know with the quality in our team we should be higher up and more points.

“We need to start putting points on the board and we have picked up, we are unbeaten in two games.

“We have a bit of momentum building up at the minute and we need to start distancing ourselves (from teams below) and hopefully we can get three points on Saturday.”