Hearts forward Steven Naismith admits Hearts came through a tough run of results but believes form is returning and can continue until the winter break.

The Scotland international has been forced to look on from the sidelines as an injury has kept him out since the League Cup semi-final in October. In that time, the Tynecastle side have slipped from the summit of the table and enduring some bruising defeats.

"It's a tough league, to be honest," he said. "Confidence can go when you are 90 minutes away from a cup final [and lose].

"We've got a lot of new players who could arguably be saying it's one of the biggest games they've played. And then we had a run of very tough fixtures.

"It's a combination of everything. There are a couple of performances in there that probably weren't good enough but there were a lot that were good but never got any reward.

"We've had a good week in terms of the St Johnstone and Motherwell games and now we need to push on through this festive period until the break."

Naismith acknowledged the quality of competition in the league this year, with only five points separating the top five teams. He said hearts were targeting a run of results over the busy festive period to ensure they are flying high when the league shuts down for two weeks.

He said: "For any team , you chop the season into blocks and we need to look at still being in the mix at that winter break.

"It's been shown this season that every team will take points off everybody and it's about building groups of games and good performances.

"We've shown over the first three or four months that we're capable of doing that and it'll be about doing that when we come back."

The forward said that he was making good progress in recovering from his knee injury but was cautious about agreeing with manager Craig Levein's target of a comeback on December 22 against Aberdeen.

"I'm at the late stage of the rehab and I feel good," he said." We have hit every target along the way and it's more a case of finishing that off and having some good training and then I'll be available.

"I know we spoke about the Aberdeen game but I'll not tempt fate, I'll just get my head down and work hard."

Naismith was speaking at the annual Christmas dinner he sponsors every year for Glasgow's homeless.

The forward explained why he got involved with the charity and also spoke about the benefits of footballers involving themselves in charitable work.

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