Craig Halkett targeting Dons win to end year of misery for Hearts

Craig Halkett admits ending 2019 with a win would be "absolutely huge" for a Hearts team who have endured one of the worst 12 months in their league history on the park.

Hearts need to beat Aberdeen on Sunday at Tynecastle to have any hope of getting off the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership ahead of the winter break.

Daniel Stendel has lost his first four matches in charge to make it one point from a possible 24 for a club who topped the table in November last year.

Hearts have only won six league games in 2019 and Halkett is aiming to produce a result which can give them and their fans some encouragement that next year will be much better.

"It would be absolutely huge," said Halkett, whose team sit three points behind Hamilton, who face Motherwell on Sunday.

"That's all everyone is aiming towards – going and getting a result on Sunday and going into the winter break possibly and hopefully off the bottom of the table.

"To go away and have a few days off knowing you have finally got that monkey off your back and finally got that win just to bring a bit of confidence to the squad and hopefully give everyone confidence and make us go in an upward spiral for the second half of the season."