'They're all big games': Neil Critchley eyes cup progress following Hearts derby defeat to Hibs

Hearts head coach Neil Critchley admits his side weren’t at their best in their Edinburgh derby defeat to Hibs but says they can bounce back in another big game to march on in the Scottish Cup.

Last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Easter Road was a blow for Critchley and his players, who had been on a strong run of form, but the Tynecastle boss said that it was a positive that they would be back in action quickly against Dundee.

Friday night’s match will determine who takes a place in the cup semi-finals at Hampden, and Critchley says that incentive marks it out as another big occasion in a season that has had its share of high-pressure games.

“We’re at home and any chance to get to Hampden is a big game and a special game,” Critchley said.

“We know it’ll be a tough game, Dundee had a lift last week with their point.

“It’s a cup competition so there might be a slightly different approach into how they feel psychologically going into this game.

“But it’s about us and how we play at home. We want to make sure we show a response from our game last week.

“I think it’s a collective, it’s all of us. When you lose a big game everyone feels it.”

The head coach addressed criticism of his side, with some pointing out that they had failed to win against top teams so far this season. He feels the team’s position when he arrived in Edinburgh meant there were high stakes and pressure every week.

“They’re all big games when you play for Hearts,” he said. “If you look at the situation when I came in, we had two points after eight games. Every game from that moment was a big game.

“We were playing catch-up right from the off. They were really important games. We’re under pressure to perform at this football club and there’s an expectation going into every game.

“Some games are more important than others and if you look at some of those games, we’ve performed well in some of them, but sometimes the result goes against you.

“We’ve shown that we can play under pressure and win games. We’ve shown different ways of winning games, coming back from when we’re behind or having to see games out in difficult moments. We’ve done that and the belief in the group has grown.

“What we didn’t do last week is carry on with our first-half performance in the way that we played the game. We need to learn from that, which we’ve spoken about, and then we need to show what we’re about as a group.”

While he stressed that he understood the significance of last week’s defeat to their rivals, the Englishman was also at pains to point out the bigger picture.

“We’ve won a lot of games since I came in back in October,” Critchley added. We’ve been moving forward, showing progress and second half last week we weren’t good enough.

“We have to be honest in that and accept the criticism that comes our way but the beauty of this industry is that you have the opportunity to put it right in your next game.”