Daniel Stendel: Hearts can build on Hibs win and avoid relegation

Daniel Stendel savoured his first Edinburgh derby victory and immediately urged Hearts to harness the result to help them avoid relegation.

A 3-1 win at Easter Road took Stendel's team off the bottom of the Premiership for at least 24 hours thanks to a rampant second half against Hibs.

Sean Clare's penalty opened the scoring on 53 minutes, Oliver Bozanic doubled the advantage with an exquisite 20-yard effort before Conor Washington fired a third on the break.

Hibs substitute Melker Hallberg reduced the deficit on 89 minutes but by then Hearts' victory was secure.

With ten league games remaining, Stendel implored his side to build momentum after eliminating Rangers from the Scottish Cup and beating their biggest rivals inside four days.

"We have ten games to go. When we play like this and like Saturday, we have a really good chance," said the German.

"It's my first derby victory. The game was open for a long time for both sides. We wanted to stay more compact and there were not a lot of chances. In the second half, with the penalty, it swung the game our way. We got more space and we used it to score three goals. It was a great win.

"The important thing is that we won the game but we fought so much for a clean sheet. I am a bit unhappy we conceded a goal on 89 minutes but we deserved to win. We deserved some happy hours after a long time with no-so-easy games. On the other side, it's only one step.

"It's only one game in the league. We need to do it again on Saturday [against Motherwell] and again next week. It's good for our confidence that we know we can do it twice in a row.

"I hope we can show the same three times in a row now. If the players take this into the next games, we have a good chance to climb the table."

Bozanic was praised for his industry and a sublime goal, whilst Stendel admitted Hearts supporters deserved the win after watching Hibs win 2-0 at Tynecastle on Boxing Day.

"It was great for them after the Boxing Day result against Hibs," he added. "It's hard for our supporters when the other team celebrates a win in our castle, but we had a good revenge tonight.

"We know Oli's quality. He works hard, he is in defence when we need him but, with two big goals for us I think his confidence will climb a lot.

"We focused after the Rangers game on Saturday. We were happy about the result and a place in the cup semi-final, but our focus was so much more on the league and the Hibs game."

Hearts' last two performances have shown greater discipline than those previously, and Stenel admitted both players and staff have learned the need for more solidity throughout the team.

"Not only the players, but me and the staff learned a lot of things from the last situations. We showed we can improve and learn quick in the derby. It's the first game, first step, we have some steps more to go."