Porous defence & comeback kings - Killie's season so far in numbers

European football hasn't come without a domestic cost for Kilmarnock this season.

Twelve games in, many Rugby Park regulars would have hoped to have amassed more than an average of a point a game.

However, after a slow start in the Scottish Premiership, Derek McInnes' men have started to climb the congested table. Most noticeably, courtesy of being comeback kings.

Of the 12 points Killie have earned this season, nine have been won from a losing position. No team has fought back for more. In fact Dundee - ah, the duality of late winners against them - are next in the comeback chart with six.

One of the most dramatic of them all came at Dens Park, with Matty Kennedy grabbing the winner to turn a 2-0 defeat into an unlikely 3-2 victory. Then, of course, Killie got a taste of their own medicine by squandering a two-goal lead in the same fixture a month later.

Winger Kennedy, though, is once again having an influential season. He has created 31 chances, a league high, with 15 successful crosses from open play too - also the best in the division.

The same can't be said at the other end, however. And this is really where Killie's problems have been this term.

Once a tough nut to crack, they're leaking too many goals - only St Johnstone (27) have conceded more than the Rugby Park side's 25.

They've faced an almighty 182 shots, 62 of which have been on target. Again, no team has faced more, but this isn't a stat chart you want to top, especially as Kilmarnock aren't outscoring teams, with just 15 goals netted in their dozen outings.

While that makes for relatively grim reading, the positive is that on their march to fourth last season, Killie were only four points better off at this stage.

Tightening up at the back and keeping 11 players on the park - no need to go down that road again - and the European spots could again be in sight.