Martin Boyle issues 2 Hibs demands as Hearts showdown labelled 'biggest derby for years'

Martin Boyle was a key man in the last Hibs side to finish the season sitting pretty in third.

And he says the most important part of that success under Jack Ross was knowing how to win games UGLY. Grinding out 1-0 victories, shutting up shop when the opposition came battering at the door and having a nasty streak were crucial components of the side Ross built. And never will those characteristics be more vital than in a basement battle Edinburgh Derby like Sunday’s in Leith.

Boyle is convinced David Gray will drag the Hibees out the rut that has seen them plummet to the foot of the table on the back of three successive defeats. But the winger also knows it’s down to the players more than anyone to stop the rot. That means toughening up, wising up and cutting out the individual errors that have cost them dearly in the last two games - starting in the biggest game of them all against Hearts.

He said: “I’ve been in this movie a fair few times and it's never nice. I am certainly confident, and there's a group of people in there that we are confident that we can turn this around, first and foremost.

“The individual errors and things that we're doing at the moment, we're getting punished for. We are playing nice football, but I think we need to switch and get back to being a nasty team and maybe winning games ugly.

“When we finished third, I don't think the performances were eye-shattering. But we managed to dig out the results. We were winning 1-0 and we were getting across the line the hard way.

“Now I feel like we are playing really good football, but we're just giving silly mistakes away and we're not doing that nasty side better. So I think going that way could help us. We need to be more ruthless and we need to be