Hibernian striker Christian Doidge has revealed how Jack Ross's insistence that he and strike partner Kevin Nisbet "defend from the front" is paying dividends for the men in green and white this season.
The Easter Road side departed Rugby Park with all three points thanks to Nisbet's spot kick having prevented the hosts from registering an effort on target throughout the 90 minutes.
The result marked Hibs ' sixth clean sheet of the season and fifth away win as they reclaimed third in the Scottish Premiership.
And Doidge picked out a few key men from the visitors' ranks in securing their latest win on the road as he hailed the workrate of his midfield counterparts.
He said: "I feel like we're just really organised; we know what players are going to do.
"[Alex] Gogic has that protection and Joe [Newell] has that flair, so we just try to get the ball to Joe as much as we can and we know Goga's there to defend the boys at the back.
"Not giving up any shots on target is a great stat to have. It was a difficult game and they had an extra man in midfield but I think we dealt with it really well. They were putting a lot of balls onto the strikers' heads but the boys dealt with it really well."
The striker is on a run without scoring in his last seven games, but has been more than happy for Nisbet to take the plaudits in front of goal after he notched his eighth of the season in Ayrshire.
Doidge won the penalty that was converted by his strike partner having harassed former Dagenham and Redbridge teammate Clevid Dikamona into an error in the Killie box.
And Doidge said chasing down defenders was a new facet of his game that Ross ensured he and Nisbet worked on during the summer, adding he was delighted to see it paying off.
"The gaffer's been on us, me and Kev, sometimes as a striker it's not the most natural thing to do, to defend from the front, but I think we did it really well," he said.
"We've worked really hard on it and it helped us win the game."
