WE'RE DOING WELL IF A DRAW IS LOOKED ON AS A BAD RESULT

IT is a clear sign of how expectation levels have increased that our draws with against Aberdeen and Motherwell have been regarded as disappointing results. In the past few seasons plundering points on your travels at Pittodrie and Fir Park would have been considered good.

The bar has been raised so much that Hearts fans now expect us to win and it is a shock that we have not taken all three points from both of those fixtures.

On the plus side we came from behind against Aberdeen and Motherwell and showed our mettle.

These are games we must win if we are to be serious SPL challengers.

It is important to take care of our own business but the weekend results saw us close the gap on Celtic at the top to just one point.

The disappointing aspect of Celtic's shock defeat by Dunfermline was that we were not able to take full advantage of their slip-up and go back to the top of the league.

If we are to maintain our title challenge then we need other teams to take points off the Old Firm.

Most of the title talk this season has been about Celtic and Hearts but Hibs are fully in the reckoning and should be considered as part of the championship mix.

Our neighbours across the city must be considered the real deal in terms of a genuine championship challenge.

I have the highest regard for Tony Mowbray and I rate him highly as a manager.

Mowbray has done a magnificent job at Easter Road and has cleverly deflected the spotlight off his team.

I think Hibs' challenge must now be taken as a serious one and they face Celtic in two weeks' time in what promises to be a very interesting match.

We are entering into a period of games in which four of our next five fixtures are at home Speaking of Tynecastle, I believe our stadium is now a very difficult place for opponents to visit and win.

If you look at the end of the season statistics, the bedrock of the side that goes on to win the championship is their home form.

So far we have a 100 per cent record at Tynecastle and our current run of form has certainly given us the base on which to formulate our own SPL challenge this season.

That is why it is vitally important for the club in four of the next five games to try to continue to record results similar to those we have already achieved this season.

The Old Firm invariably win the majority of their home games when they win the SPL championship so it is crucial for us to try to emulate them and hopefully sustain our decent run in the process.

Under Graham Rix we have recorded back-to-back draws but as I have said they were two extremely difficult away games.

We are delighted with what we have seen so far from the new manager and the players have responded well to him.

The Hearts dressing room is desperate to get Rix his first victory as boss and hopefully that can come this Saturday against Livingston at Tynecastle.

Taken from the Daily Record