Aaron McEneff has called on Hearts to carry their high standards into the second half of the season.

The Tynecastle side have reached the halfway point of the campaign in third place in the cinch Premiership and are generally considered to have exceeded expectations since being promoted from the Championship.

Midfielder McEneff is hopeful they can continue their encouraging form against Ross County on Boxing Day and then when the campaign resumes next month after the winter break.

He said: “It’s been a really good season so far.

“We got promoted last year and set in-house goals for ourselves and we hit them in the first third of games. In doing that, we’ve played some really good football.

“We’ve still got half the season to go and we need to work hard to maintain what we’ve done.”

Hearts were criticised at times last season for their style of play in the Championship, but McEneff believes they have been a much more expansive side this campaign.

He said: “I think you can see there are technical players in the team who want to get the ball down and pass it.

“For me, coming in last year, that was hard at times, maybe due to the pitches we were playing on. I found it difficult.

“But every pitch in the top league is a good surface and you can get the ball down. It’s suited a lot of our players.

“We’ll have to keep working hard to maintain our style and try and improve it.”