Sean Burt believes the club is an "enjoyable" place to be as the assistant manager looks to continue their good start to the campaign

Hearts assistant manager Sean Burt believes the club is an “enjoyable” place to be at the moment.

The Jam Tarts have had a fantastic first half of the season, finding themselves comfortably in fourth spot in SWPL1. A 5-0 win at the weekend against Hamilton puts the team seven points clear of Edinburgh rivals Hibs, who are currently sixth. Burt believes the team can continue their good form into next year.

“The girls are enjoying their football”, he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “Eva Olid’s philosophy of how she wants this team to play is enjoyable. If I was a player, it is how I would want to play. You can see that from the girls in terms of how we build from the back and then creating opportunities in the final third. It’s fantastic. It’s enjoyable. Who wouldn’t want to enjoy that especially when you are winning?”

This season has been a great improvement on last year’s campaign, when Hearts finished eighth in the SWPL. Olid’s side already have more wins this season than they recorded in the league last season. They have also won every home league game this season, underlining the extent of the progress. As the half-way mark approaches, Burt hopes the team can continue to make the Oriam a difficult place for visitors to come to as they look to ensure they finish inside the top four.

A Hearts win against Partick Thistle next weekend could potentially widen the gap between fourth and fifth place to 10 points. Picture: Malcolm Mackenzie

“We want our pitch to be a difficult place to come.” he stated. “I think we are certainly doing that. Another clean sheet shows that again. All of the headlines will probably go to the strikers, but I thought the defence were brilliant against Hamilton. A big shout out to Shona Cowan, who hasn’t played a lot of minutes this season. But she didn’t put a foot wrong.”

Hearts have one more league game before the winter break a week on Sunday when they travel to Partick Thistle at New Petershill Park. Kick-off on Sunday, December 18 is 2pm. Hearts will return after the festive break on January 8 to play in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.