A trip to Ayrshire to face Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership presents Heart of Midlothian with a huge opportunity. 

Three points against Derek McInnes' side will be far from easy. After all, only Celtic have picked up more points from home matches than Killie this season. Those home comforts were key to the team avoiding relegation last season. Hearts, it should be remembered, have already secured a win at Rugby Park this season, winning 2-1 in the League Cup. 

A repeat outcome would, for 24 hours at least, lift Hearts into third in the Premiership. It would be the fourth straight league win, the last time the club managed was the start of the 2018/19 season when Craig Levein's side won their first five top-flight fixtures. On top of that it would provide the team with their fourth win away from home in the league, eclipsing last season's tally of three.

Ahead of a week in which Hearts face Rangers - an opponent they have not beat in the last 11 meetings - and then take a trip to Pittodrie - a venue they haven't won at since 2016 and in 10 attempts - it presents the possibility of continuing to build momentum while sending out a message to the rest of the league: 'We are third and we are only just getting started'.

Well, that is how it could be viewed externally and even amongst the players. "I've said from the beginning of the season that it will be a really tight table," Stephen Kingsley noted. "I don't think anyone has shown consistency, and that includes us. We want to get there."

However, head coach Steven Naismith has no interest in the Premiership league table. It is not the first time he has admitted such.

"[It is a] good opportunity but after the Celtic game we knew we had a good run of games where we knew we could build momentum," he said. "I have constantly talked about the consistency. In terms of where we are in the league, I'm not bothered about that. I know how it works. The league is normally tight until January/February time anyway. I'll not start focusing on that until March/April time because you know things have settled down, the gaps between teams are slightly bigger than expected and you can get a real feel of where you are going to be.

"Our aim and targets at the start of the season are what they are. Where we are now is not going to dictate where we finish. It is about the performances, continuing to build that, build the results and if we do that and keep this level of consistency we will be a successful team."

Both Naismith and Kingsley were both keen to emphasise a key word: "Consistency". Whether that be with performances, results or the work done on the training ground.

How many teams in the Premiership have done what Hearts have this season and put three wins together? Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell.

Now, understandably, some may point to the opposition of those wins. Livingston, Motherwell and St Johnstone. Three teams Hearts should be beating on a regular basis. But obviously it hasn't been that easy with the club having gone nearly two years without three successive victories until Saturday's win over Saints. Importantly, it doesn't matter which teams you are beating, winning builds confidence. It also reaffirms the work done during the week and builds "belief in what we want to do".

"You can see everybody at training being at it," Naismith said. "That comes from confidence, enjoying it, everything is good. I think a lot over the last month of what we've worked on with us changing to a back three at times, having to put the detail on the pitch of what happens in certain situations, the players have seen that pay off. They have seen in a game when we review that we worked on this on Monday and on the Saturday clear as day it consistently happened and it got us success. That gets you buy in. Players see that, they understand that and go 'aye, that worked'. That brings confidence. The environment, the results, everything does. It is about continuing that on as long as possible. 

He added: "Individually they will have confidence in themselves when they play well, whether it be in possession building up, scoring goals, creating chances. Players are the worst for questioning things and players have opinions of how they expect to do things. When you are different to somebody the proof is when it happens and if it happens then that is when the mindset changes. I was exactly the same as a player and over the last month we have managed to do that quite well."