Motherwell wing-back Richard Tait insists their belief has been unaffected during a sticky start to the season.

And the Well vice-captain felt they were close to recapturing their identity and form during Wednesday’s last-gasp Betfred Cup defeat by Hearts.

Two late goals denied Motherwell extra-time and made it three consecutive losses for the Steelmen ahead of Saturday’s trip to Kilmarnock.

But the other defeats were one-goal reverses against Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Hearts and Aberdeen and Tait is convinced they will soon move up from 10th spot after taking four points from their opening six matches.

The 28-year-old said: “That game could have gone either way. They took their chances when they needed to and maybe in hindsight we probably could have settled down for five minutes after we scored the second goal.

“But we had that energy and wanted to go and win the game and it backfired.

“There were positives to take. That was probably why we felt so disappointed because we felt how good we were and back to what we were last season.

“But there’s no time to dwell on that. We have got to use the positives, the fact that we were feeling good, we looked good I thought, and take that into Saturday’s game.

“Teams will go through the season where they don’t pick up points when maybe they should. Some of these games we could have turned around and we could have been the winners. We just need a tiny bit of luck and once that comes I am sure we will go on a roll of games.”

The defeat was only a third loss in 19 cup ties under Stephen Robinson – the other two also came against the league leaders as Well lost two finals against Celtic last season.

“The belief we are still a good team and can still go and win football matches is definitely in the changing room, and all the new boys have bought into that,” Tait said.

“They have seen the success we had last year and they all want that this season, just like I do. It’s very early in the season and there’s the chance to turn it around and make it a really positive one.”

Killie go into Saturday’s game on the back of a victory over Celtic and Tait appreciates it will be a difficult contest for a number of reasons.

“They have taken their form from last season into this season and they are a really good team,” he said.

“Obviously their park makes a difference as well but I won’t talk about that too much. In my opinion the surface is terrible, to put it nicely. But we can’t change it, we know what to expect and you get used to it.

“We are expecting a tough match but we believe in ourselves.”