Exclusive: Robbie Neilson pinpoints defining week of Hearts' season with reaction to Hibs Scottish Cup semi-final draw

Manager Robbie Neilson acknowledged the significance of back-to-back derbies between the two Capital clubs in April in an exclusive Evening News interview this morning.

He believes both games will have an enormous bearing on Hearts’ campaign, while Hibs are also pursuing similar goals. The two clubs want to qualify for European football and lift Scotland’s most prestigious cup come May.

Hibs visit Tynecastle Park in the Premiership on Saturday, April 9, before the semi-final at Hampden Park the following weekend. Hearts could potentially secure third place in the league encounter before facing their neighbours days later for the right to a Scottish Cup final place.

Neilson wants league victories over Livingston and Ross County to continue winning momentum prior to the derby double. Several Hearts players can recollect knocking Hibs out in the 2020 Scottish Cup semi-final and that experience could prove important.

“We’ve got that experience of playing in these big games but you know what it’s like in a derby,” said Neilson. “You go into it and you have to be at it because it doesn’t matter how many of them you have played in. If you aren’t 100 per cent at it and concentrated, then you’re in trouble.

“We need to make sure that we deal with games coming up first and foremost. We’ve got Livingston and then Ross County. We need to win them to make sure we got into the first derby in the league on form. I think that will be a big marker for the Scottish Cup tie a week later.

“That week in April will probably be a defining one of the season. It’s two derbies back to back – the last game before the split and then a cup semi-final. We need to get ourselves ready for it and that starts on Saturday.

“The semi is a massive game, one