Gary Mackay: Spirit shown in derby win can help Hearts kick on

I was fortunate to be invited down to the Carabao Cup final between Manchester City and Aston Villa at the weekend. It was a fabulous football experience, but nothing compared to being at Easter Road on Tuesday night. Nothing beats that.

Being in the Hearts end watching your team commit themselves in every sense and earn a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win was just magnificent. Beating Hibs in September became a one-off because the team took backwards steps after that. We were defeated at home by our Edinburgh rivals on Boxing Day and things have been looking bleak.

Fans reaction told you how much win meant

Now we have another chance and we absolutely must build on it this time. Hearts reached the Scottish Cup semi-finals at the weekend and were drawn against Hibs, then they go down there and and perform, to a man, outstandingly. The reaction from the fans told you all you needed to know about how much it meant to everybody.

The young Hearts supporters have been criticised at times at Tynecastle for how they behave. They were exemplary in how they backed their team and the response they got from the team was out of this world.

The coming together seemed real to me as I thought about it after the derby. During the game, at all three goals, and at full-time, there was a sense of togetherness and a spirit among everybody.

The whole night just had that feel about it and it was tremendous to be there and witness it.

Players ‘performed as a unit’

We can’t dwell on it too much because there are more huge games coming up. The defence has been criticised this season but they got a clean sheet on Saturday and deserved another one at Easter Road. That was the only disappointment for me, but it doesn’t matter. They performed as a unit and that was fantastic to see.

Looking at the diamond that is Daniel Stendel in the eyes of many supporters, his decisions on individual players has created a demand within the squad.

That means other individuals either need to up the ante to the level produced on Tuesday night or they won’t be involved.

Loic Damour is a good example. His situation has been spoken about openly. He was told he was going to find it difficult to get games.

You can either approach it like a true professional and roll your sleeves up to align yourself to the coaching staff’s demands, or you can just hang about and become a wee bit of a bad smell if you aren’t prepared to move on.

Ultimately, it looks like Stendel is going to be pretty quick in sniffing you out if you fall into the latter category.

We’ve said before that the squad was too big and he seems to have identified that. That, and he has said to some: "Sorry, your finger isn’t pulled out far enough to stay in my team and stay as part of this proud club."

Maybe we are finally getting to see the benefits.