Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke insists his players will keep their feet firmly on the ground despite their lofty position in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

The Ayrshire side moved third in the table after coming from behind to down Motherwell 3-1 at a raucous Rugby Park.

Despite the victory, Killie’s fourth in seven league matches this season, Clarke says that main goal is and always will be keeping their top-flight status.

“It’s been a great start,” he admitted.

“But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves at the moment. We’ve only got 13 points and we still need a few more points before we’re safe in the league.

“Avoiding relegation always has to be the aim for a club of Kilmarnock’s stature. That has to be the first benchmark, you’ve got to pick up the points to be safe. If you do that then you can look up the table.”

The match looked like it may be heading for an altogether different conclusion after the first half-hour when Curtis Main put the Steelmen ahead, and also failed to convert a penalty.

But Killie’s desire is strong and they ran out comfortable winners in the end following goals from Chris Burke, Greg Stewart and Eamonn Brophy.

“I thought we started a little bit slowly and hesitantly,” Clarke added.

“We had some nice moments but I think Motherwell had the upper hand for the first 30 minutes.

“The momentum swung with the penalty save and from there we started being a good team rather than just a clever team.

“There’s a good shape to the team at the moment but we’re not getting carried away. We’ve got a tough game against Dundee next week. They got their first win today so it’ll be a real tough test up there.”

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson admitted he will have to make changes to his side for their upcoming matches.

Well sit 10th in the table with just one win from seven matches, but they have some winnable fixtures coming up.

“In the first seven games we’ve played the top five from last season,” he said.

“If you don’t cut out the individual errors and stay with runners then it’s going to be difficult.

“I’ve been very loyal to certain people and I’ll have to make changes now.

“The reality is that these three games could dictate our season.”