Andy Halliday has fired a 'far from impossible' message in Hearts' pursuit of third.
The Jambos have been on a horrendous run of results with Saturday's defeat to Hibs at Easter Road making it five Premiership defeats on the spin. Robbie Neilson was axed following the Tynecastle defeat to St Mirren with interim boss Steven Naismith suffering a loss in his first game in the Edinburgh derby.
In a real contrast of form, Aberdeen have picked up six wins on the bounce in the league to leapfrog the Gorgie men and open up a five point gap with just six games to play. The duo will go head to head once again this season. Finishing best of the rest will guarantee European group stage football next season should Rangers or Celtic lift the Scottish Cup - with the winner of the semi-final tie going into the final as huge favourites against one of Falkirk or Inverness.
READ MORE: Cammy Devlin 'devastated' by Hibs derby defeat and says Hearts players only have themselves to blame
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Hearts enjoyed a Europa Conference League campaign this season but face an uphill battle of a second successive season guaranteed at that stage with missing out on third meaning qualifying for Europe would involve added qualification rounds to reach the big stage.
Halliday says the time has come for 'tough men and tough characters' to get the club out of the current slump and battle right to the end in the quest for third position.
He said: "It’s time for tough men and tough characters. I don’t think we had a reaction to poor results over the last few games. There was a reaction on Saturday but quality was lacking and I don’t think we did enough to win.
“It was a typical derby, pretty frantic, end-to-end for the most part. When big moments and chances came, Hibs created the better of them. It's disappointing but you have to stand up and be counted. I’ve had worse situations in my career than this one, as much as it doesn’t feel like that.
“What is it now? Five points with six games to go? Far from impossible. We’ve shown before that we can turn out on a result. The fans are going to hate me saying it because we’ve not won in a number of weeks, but that’s the reality. It’s not what people want to hear but it’s a great dressing room, it really is.
"I've really enjoyed being part of it over the last few years. It’s lacking a bit of confidence just now, we’ve all been in dressing rooms when that’s happened, but it’s about stepping up and being counted. It’s about doing more, taking on more of the information Naisy’s put in front of us to try and turn our results.”
He added: “This is where we are. It’s been a tough few weeks. This has been an even tougher week.
“Heart, passion and desire were there but not a lot of quality. I hope the fans see that it’s hurting the boys as much as it’s hurting them. We need to look forward and be positive because third and Europe is still up for grabs.”
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