Tam McManus insists Hibs CAN beat Hearts to third then laugh in their rivals' faces

If anyone had suggested Hibs could beat Hearts to third spot after the New Year derby then I’d have laughed in their face.

But just a month or so later and there’s a real possibility the Jam Tarts could be the ones laughing out the other side of theirs in the race to be best of the rest. It’s absolutely incredible there’s only five points separating the Edinburgh rivals now given that a month ago Hibs were reeling from back-to-back derby drubbings, had a manager apparently facing the bullet and a squad shot of confidence.

On the other side Hearts have never been shy about their intentions to drive away from the rest of the pack and cut the gap on the Old Firm. Don’t get me wrong, I like that fighting chat. But you’ve got to back it up with results. Hearts are 22 points off second place and 31 off leaders Celtic.

It’s as big a gap as I can remember and unfortunately suggests the rest of the league is as poor as has ever been. A couple of weeks ago Hearts had a wee chance to close that enormous gap at home to Rangers and got battered. The Old Firm aren’t going to drop many more points and the difference between second and third will end up well over 30 points.

That’s no laughing matter unfortunately and the question is just how much money will it take to start hauling the big two back in? An awful lot unfortunately. Back to the race for third though and all the pressure is on Hearts.

There’s been a lot of investment in the squad at Tynecastle, they’ve got a big wage bill and raked in millions from Europe. Sporting director Joe Savage has come out and said they should be challenging Celtic and Rangers. But Hearts could really fall flat on their face if they finish outwith the top three because they were rightly big