HEARTS WON THE CUP LAST SEASON AND HAD CRACK AT CHAMPIONS LEAGUE... THIS TIME I'M PRAYING IT'S HIBS' TURN

I'VE got pals who are Jambos. My dad has pals who are Jambos.My girlfriend's dad and her brother are Jambos.

So do you have any idea how hard it was to be a Hibee last season? Honestly, there were days when I didn't fancy getting out of bed because I knew I was going to get another pasting. They were waiting there, ready to gloat, everywhere I turned.

And no wonder. Hearts lifted a trophy and qualified for a crack at the Champions League. It was a terrific effort and it proved they were THE force in Edinburgh. Or at least that's what they kept telling me. Over and over again.

Now don't get me wrong. It's not that I found them boring or even remotely dull.

Yes, the thought did occur from time to time that I'd rather be chewing off my own foot than listening to another word they had to say but, hey, that's Hearts fans for you.

And yet, as hard as it is for me to admit even now, the fact remains that what they achieved last season was really quite special.

Which is why it would mean the world to me if we could do the same this season.

I'm not about to shout my mouth off and say we are good enough to be the second strongest team in the SPL or split the Old Firm. Not yet anyway.

But I will say this much - we are not far away. In fact, we are making great strides in the right direction as we proved with our performance against Celtic on Sunday.

People have been arguing for some time that we are the most attractive side in the country and I believe Craig Burley said pretty much the same thing on Setanta after our 2-2 draw.

That's great for the punters who are being entertained but we feel we can do more than just put on a good show.It's time to give them some success.

That's why, as a team, we are now targeting second place in the league this season as well, of course, as the CIS Cup.

I'm not saying the Champions League is all but on its way to Easter Road - it will require one hell of an effort from the lads if we are to get ourselves into that position.

But I am saying it's time we set our sights that little bit higher. That's what John Collins has been telling us from day one. If you don't aim high and have ambitions then you will get nowhere in this game.

As a club we have to ask ourselves if we are content with finishing fourth or fifth every season, being happy with top-six football and every now and then scraping a place in the UEFA Cup.

That's not good enough when we have so much quality at our disposal.

The Old Firm go into every game expecting to win and I think that attitude is starting to become evident at Easter Road.

The gaffer is putting ideas in our head. He's telling us there is no reason why we can't beat anyone in this league and Sunday's performance proved he's right. He is setting high standards for us and we have to do the same. When you look at the quality of our football there is no reason why we can't be up there at the end of the season.

If everyone is being honest they'll admit that, consistently, we give Celtic a harder time than most other clubs in the league.

I'm not saying we find it easy against them but I don't imagine Celtic like coming to Easter Road because they know they are going to get a hard game. On Sunday we matched them all over the park for a good 70 minutes and when I scored the second goal to put us 2-0 up I really did think the game was in the bag.

Ilooked Neil Lennon in the eyes and I could see he was beaten. But that's why they are champions I suppose. They never say never.

Lennon has a lot of critics and people say he doesn't have the legs for it anymore. But he helped to drive his team on on Sunday and you have to give him credit for that.

I was disappointed in him for trying to get Scott Brown sent off but then the pair of them had been chirping away at each other all day. It was non-stop. I don't know how they can be bothered with it because it was giving me a sorehead just listening to them.

Iexpected more from Lennon than to try to play the fool to get Scott sent off but you have to admire him for being so driven.

We have to add the same kind of resilience into our team. We have a habit of taking the lead in big games against the Old Firm or Hearts and then ending up with nothing. That has to change.

I'm sick of coming close to beating Celtic but not holding out for the win.It's becoming a bit of a hoodoo but then they are the so-called best team in Scotland so we can't be too hard on ourselves.

And yet we know we can match them and when the final whistle sounded at the weekend one team was happy with a draw and it wasn't Hibs. I think the manager was pleased because he can see we are picking up on what he has been ramming home to us in training.

We have always been a decent team to watch but since John Collins took over we have been working really hard on what we do when we don't have the ball.

His theory is quite simple. He knows we are younger and more athletic than most of the teams we come up against. He wants us to use that energy to press the ball all over the park, go hunting for it in packs of three, so we win the ball back in more dangerous areas.

We are putting that into practice and it worked well against Celtic. We were all over them like a rash.

One of the first things Tommy Craig told us when he came to the club was that after watching a few of our games he believed we could press the ball harder. He said we weren't badat it but thought we could squeeze another yard out of ourselves. He said if we can get that extra yard we could be a great team. I don't know if we are quite there yet but we are certainly moving in the right direction.

One last thing I would really like to thank the Hibs fans for the support they showed me on Sunday.

I was a little bit worried they might give me some stick because of all the stories in the papers about my future. But they were terrific and I think they saw from myreaction after I scored our second goal how much it meant to me and how much I love this club.

As told to Keith Jackson

Taken from the Daily Record