Angelo Alessio believes Kilmarnock's recent winning run has led to a change in attitude among his squad and he hopes their new-found confidence will be evident again when they take on champions Celtic on Sunday.

Alessio made a disappointing start to life in the Killie hot seat, crashing out of the Europa League at the hands of Connah's Quay Nomads in July and picking up just one point from the first three Ladbrokes Premiership matches.

But Kilmarnock's fortunes have improved drastically in recent games, with victories over St Johnstone and Hibernian in their last two outings moving them up to sixth in the table.

Italian Alessio has noticed a new atmosphere in training sessions since results improved and he has urged the players to keep up the hard work.

He said: "After St Johnstone I saw in training another attitude. All the players are confident.

"And I saw the same in the last game against Hibernian.

"I think now it's important for us to understand our dimension, our style of football and I think at the moment it's good in this way."

Alessio insists he remained "in control" even when Kilmarnock's early-season form plunged them towards the bottom of the table.

And the 54-year-old, who replaced Scotland boss Steve Clarke at the Rugby Park helm, thinks their two-match winning streak is a good building block for the rest of the season.

He added: "I have had a period to understand the players and try the best solutions for the type of players I have.

"I think every manager takes time to understand the situation and work out the best solution.

"Of course, at the beginning we had a lot of problems. The season started very early and we lost our game against Connah's Quay and had to change our plan.

"I was always in control. I have had a lot of experience.

"I know it was very hard at the beginning and we have to work hard.

"But we are building our season. We must keep working for this reason."