Peter Houston is urging his Dundee United team to improve their home form and set their sights on catching Hearts in fourth place.

The Tannadice club play their game in hand against Kilmarnock on Tuesday night, knowing a win will lift them above their opponents and into the top six.

A victory would also put them within two points of Hearts and Houston says a run of results could catapult them up the SPL table.

“It could take a run of games,” said the manager. “All you need is two or three results in a row and you can jump up the table quite a bit.

“I think ourselves, Aberdeen, St Mirren, Kilmarnock and even St Johnstone are all getting dragged into the last place for the top six.

“I will say that if we win tomorrow night, we're two points behind Hearts and we play them on Saturday. So they could be drawn back into it as well.”

With 26 SPL games played, United have won one more game on their travels than they have at home this campaign.

Houston’s side have picked up just three wins and five draws from 13 home games and knows it will be a tall order for his team to take all three points against Killie.

“It's always a tight game when you play Kilmarnock,” he said. “In saying that, we scored four against them at Tannadice last season. I would be happy if we score four tomorrow night.

“All I am hoping for is to try and get the three points and try and set up a run of home matches that are good in getting performances.

“Performances and results away from home have been excellent. We have to improve on our home form.”