Tommy Wright says belief is soaring at Rugby Park now that Kilmarnock have rediscovered the knack of scoring.

Killie are the lowest scorers in the Premiership with just 28 goals so far.

But the appointment of the Northern Irishman back in February and his capture of compatriot Kyle Lafferty has sparked the Ayrshiremen into life.

They have now registered 15 strikes in their last five games and Wright hopes their newfound confidence in the final third can inspire Killie to a daring survival bid.

They sit second bottom, a point behind Ross County in the chase for safety and ahead of hosting Dundee United on Wednesday, Wright said: “Since we’ve come in there’s been a positive vibe.

“The players have responded well to what we’ve wanted them to do in terms of how we’ve wanted them to play.

“Where the confidence levels and belief have risen, that’s simply because we’ve started to score goals.

“We’ve got 15 in the last five games so that helps the belief.

“When I came in it took us a while to get the first goal and before that we’ve been a team that has struggled to get goals.

“Solving that can create confidence. We’re going into games now believing that we’re going to score goals and create chances.

“Now the other side which still needs to improve is clearly keeping clean sheets. That too can win you points and we need to keep more in these four league games we have left. Hopefully we have more in the cup with Saturday’s quarter-final against St Mirren coming up too.

“If we can keep a couple of clean sheets I’d be confident enough that we’d get the goals that get us enough points.”

United will be without first-choice goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist after he was injured in the warm-up ahead of Friday night’s cup win over Forfar, with deputy Deniz Mehmet set to fill the gloves at Rugby Park.

Wright knows the 28-year-old well after inviting him to train with St Johnstone a couple of years ago.

“Siegrist is a top goalkeeper, he’s had a great season and he will be a big loss to any team,” said the former Newcastle number one.

“They have got an able deputy coming in. He done OK at Forfar on Friday night and has experience of playing league football.

“He actually trained with me at St Johnstone in 2019 so I know all about him.

“United have had a good first season in the league and will feel they should have been competing for the top six.

“For any promoted side to be clear of relegation is a good result.”