Sam Walker vowed to focus on the positives after Kilmarnock extended their unbeaten run in the Premiership to three games.
Killie were unable to get the better of 10-man St Mirren on Monday with the sides sharing a goalless draw.
But Walker believes the team is making progress with the clean sheet hailed as a big positive.
And with just one defeat in five matches, the big keeper is confident Killie have overcome early-season “naivety”.
The 31-year-old said: “The positive of the day is the clean sheet. There’s obviously a huge disappointment that we didn’t go on and win the game having had one man more for so long in the game.
“Our unbeaten run at home continues and we’ve got to use those positives of the last few games to move forward through the month.
“Credit has to go to St Mirren as I thought they set up their shape really well. They stopped us for large parts of the game and limited our chances to a couple. Obviously we’re disappointed not to have created more.
“The red card changed the whole dimension of the game and it became a whole different challenge. I think we’re learning as we go.
“We’re over halfway through now and I think we’ve lost that naivety we had at the start of the season. The manager [Derek McInnes] has spoken about it before.
“We’ve got confidence in what we can do as a unit and what we can offer this league. We’ve got a tough three games coming up but after that we’ve some really important games to look forward to as we work our way towards the split.”
Killie now face up to a Celtic double-header – the highlight being the League Cup semi-final at Hampden – and a showdown with Rangers.
Walker said: “The semi-final is obviously the one everyone has had their eyes on for a long time. It’s a big game for the club.
“We’re going to try and win the game and get ourselves to a final at Hampden.
“We’ve got Celtic and Rangers in the league sandwiching that and I think we’re certainly in a better place than when we first played Celtic in the early season.
“On Saturday, [against Celtic], it’s going to be the other way round from this game which is us doing our work defensively. I think we’re all looking forward to testing ourselves against the two best teams in the league and seeing where we’re at.”
Meanwhile, Walker insists star striker Kyle Lafferty is ready to go as he prepares to return from a 10-match ban handed down after he was caught on video using sectarian language.
He added: “Working with him every day, I can see he is desperate to come back. He’s served his punishment, served his time.
“He’s fit and looks in good shape and he is going to come back and help us out. We’re really looking forward to having him back.”
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