Steven Naismith believes his Heart of Midlothian side will hit the ground running when the new Scottish Premiership campaign kicks off in two weeks’ time following a productive pre-season exercise at Burnley’s training ground.

The men in maroon played two 75-minute friendlies behind closed doors against the English Championship outfit on Saturday afternoon, allowing a wide variety of first-team players to build up their fitness ahead of the new campaign.

Costa Rica internationalist Kenneth Vargas returned for Hearts after representing his country at this summer’s Copa America, while Liam Boyce and Frankie Kent also picked up some minutes.

Five of Hearts’ new arrivals – Gerald Taylor, Daniel Oyegoke, Blair Spittal, Ryan Fulton and Musa Drammeh – received some game time, as did some of the younger members of Naismith’s squad. Callum Sandilands, Bobby Mcluckie, Matthew Gillies, Bailey Dall, James Wilson and Finlay Pollock all featured.

“It was really good,” Naismith told Hearts TV. “We had two teams playing at the same time for 75 minutes, so everyone got more minutes on the pitch. Coming down to play big clubs in England has always got so many positive aspects to it.

“You come down and see conditions, the level of player that you are up against, and that’s the challenge. Can we be brave on the ball? Can we press them, win the ball back, and create chances? I think today I saw good bits and other elements where I’d like to see us being bolder. Overall, it was a really good performances in very tight games.

“Similar to Spurs, you need to accept there are times where you won’t have the ball and you need to work out when you’ll have the opportunity to win it back and work through the pitch in such a way to create chances.

“All the guys that had internationals have been dripped back in. Kenneth is back and Gerald got here a bit earlier because he was signing. Zander and Lawrence played too so now we have almost got everyone back and ready.

“We’re in the final stages of pre-season now where we’re past the slog and can look forward to getting back into a rhythm.  We’re now building the sharpness and getting ready to go for the first game of the season.

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“We’re in a good place, in good spirits, and it shows with the quality and competition for places that exists within the group now.

“There’s a couple of days off now so they can take their minds off football and let their boides recharge a bit. We’re then into a normal schedule with Fleetwood next weekend and then the first league game the following one.”