Lee Clark believes his Kilmarnock side are progressing after admitting this season's Scottish Premiership is the strangest league he has been involved in.

Killie sit sixth in table but are just three points ahead of Saturday's opponents Inverness CT as teams move towards the halfway point of the league campaign.

Having helped the Ayrshire side retain their Premiership place via a play-off final win over Falkirk, Clark is keen to avoid any repeat of that late season drama.

Asked if he felt the club were on track to match Clark's vision for his opening ten months in charge, he told STV: "There's been improvement without a shadow of a doubt.

"I said all along I didn't want the club to be involved in where they were last year as that was a very tense time. It wasn't easy with all the things that come with that.

"So if we can finish in a strong position where we are not involved in that then that would be progress."

He added: "I said the ultimate long-term goal is to try to get the club into the top six and be pushing in and around that area as often as possible. That hasn't changed either.

"Yes progress has been made but we still know that there's a lot of hard work to be done in the months ahead.

"The thing is even though we've made progress, things are so tight because the division is quite unique this season and it means that you are one or two bad results from dropping right into an area where you don't want to be."

The installation of a new freezing ice chamber at Rugby Park represents Clark's latest attempt to overhaul the club on and off the pitch.

The former Birmingham and Blackpool boss knows, however, that he will primarily be judged on how his team perform on the field.

With just four points separating Killie in sixth from bottom club Partick Thistle, the 44-year-old says he has rarely seen such a compact division during his time in the game.

He added: "It's so tight. It's weird because you come off the pitch at the weekend we all seem to mirror each other's results whether that be a loss, a win or a draw.

"It's been quite strange. All the managers will have the same thought that we can't dwell on poor results for too long.

"Of course we have to debrief and speak to the group about why we lost but if you dwell on them for too long and you end up having a run of results where you don't pick up enough points then you put yourself in a really tough position."