Jason Naismith reckons Hamilton's form is a perfect example of how tight the Scottish Championship is.
The Lanarkshire side lost 6-1 at home to Partick Thistle last week, but the game before that they beat league leaders Inverness 2-0.
And the Kilmarnock defender says they must be wary as his side aim to bounce back from three without a win.
Naismith said: "They’ve only just come down from the Premiership and they’ve still got players who played a lot of games in the Premier.
“They’ve had a disappointing start to the season, from their point of view.
“So, they’ll be coming to us with their tails up, trying to kick-start their season.
“The gaffer has made us well aware of their previous results and we’re well aware of their qualities.
“We try to concentrate on ourselves more and what we can affect on a Saturday.
“The gaffer’s made us well aware of how dangerous a team Hamilton can be. I know it was a kind of freak result last week, and that can happen in football.
“But I’m sure it will be a tough test."
He added: “It is a cliche but I think it’s true. The league is tight, there’s not much between the teams.
“That’s evident throughout Scotland, even in the Premiership this season, where there’s an unfamiliar look about the table.
“We’re hoping that when everything irons out we can get ourselves onto the top of the pile.
“It’s going to be to and fro all season - it’s not going to be a cakewalk, by any stretch of the imagination.
“No-one here expected that anyway - I don’t know if anyone else did.
“You saw Hearts come down and it was a struggle for them at times, and Hibs and Dundee United were in this division for a period of time.
“They’re arguably bigger clubs than Kilmarnock.
“So, it’s not going to be easy. Teams aren’t gong to lie down, and they’ll probably see Kilmarnock as a scalp as well.
“So, it’s up to us to raise our game and raise our standards and compete with them."
Meanwhile boss Tommy Wright added: "There's still a long way to go, we all still have to play each other three times.
"The league will be tight all season, no one on our end was claiming we would run away with anything.
"The league is a lot closer than it has been in previous seasons.
"We need to make sure we go out and win games after dropping points."
He added: "They will want to prove it's a blip, they had good results before the Partick game.
"I don't look into Friday night too much, just because they lost 6-1 doesn't mean we just need to turn up to do the same, football doesn't work like that.
"There are things we have to improve on, hopefully we can do that.
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