Head coach Derek McInnes admits it’s full focus on Kilmarnock as the Jambos return from the international break with a trip to Rugby Park this Saturday.
The men in maroon are back in Premiership action with a late kick-off in Ayrshire, in front of the TV cameras and will be looking to keep their winning run going, following Craig Halkett’s late Edinburgh Derby winner last time out.
Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference, McInnes said the target remains on improving performances further.
“We just need to concentrate on improved performances, he said. “The performance against Hibs was fine. The winner comes later on, and sometimes that's the way the games play. I thought we were the team that were really trying to win the game and try to put more penalty box entries and the like, but you'd have to say the performance wasn't as good as we would like it to be.
“So, we've just really got to concentrate on improving. We will need to improve if we're going to try and maintain the levels of where we're at. And I've said this often enough, the next block of games, there's a lot of challenges there, as there is every week in the Premier League.
“A lot of people are asking me about the Celtic game in a couple of weeks' time, and I get the reasons for that, but our game on Saturday needs our full attention, and that's all we are concentrating on, a tough game at Kilmarnock.
“I've been delighted with the motivation of the team, the consistency of the team, the approach for the team, the players, and I think it's important that we continue to have the fight with ourselves, because if we continue to improve and have that fight with ourselves to improve, and results are a big part of that, but performances and how we train is big as well, then I'm confident we've got the potential to keep winning games and hopefully keep ourselves up at the top end of the table. That's a big challenge for us, and each game will test that.”
The head coach provided a positive update regarding the return of Ajeu and Frankie Kent but confirmed Kilmarnock will come too soon for the duo.
“Ajeu and Frankie will hopefully be fit for next week. Ajeu definitely will, Frankie's got a chance. But this game, we just feel over the length of time Ajeu has been out, the fact that we're going down to play on the astro, all these things are not really beneficial to a player that's been out a period of time with injuries.
“So, we're just going to try and take the benefit of that and consolidate his work, just bulk his workload up this week, hopefully get him back full training with us next week.
“Frankie is coming along nicely. He'll be touch and go for Celtic but certainly hoping he can get there. Borchgrevink is back training, so that leaves Ryan Fulton and Finlay Pollock.”
You can watch Derek’s press conference in full on Hearts TV.
