Oisin McEntee urges Hearts to bounce back with a result in Edinburgh derby

Oisin McEntee is looking for Hearts to respond in the most positive manner to their St Mirren defeat in Tuesday night’s keenly-awaited Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle.

The William Hill Premiership leaders lost 1-0 in Paisley last Tuesday and saw their lead over chasing Rangers cut to three points 24 hours later when the Ibrox club forged a 5-1 home win over second-bottom Kilmarnock.

McEntee, the 25-year-old defender signed from Walsall last summer, insists the Jambos have refocused quickly on the game against Hibernian, who won 3-2 when the two sides met at Easter Road on December 27, with Hearts coming out on top 1-0 in Gorgie last October.

The former Republic of Ireland Under-21 international said: “I think the mood is OK. It’s just one game and we just have to bounce back.

“It’s been a brilliant season so far and you’re going get setbacks. Teams are going to get setbacks.

“It’s just how we bounce back from them and we haven’t had many losses so we just need to really get working on the training ground now until the game.

“It’s obviously going to be a really tough game.

“It’s a derby. It a huge game in the city. Huge game for us, huge game for Hibs so I think it’s going to take care of itself. It’s about the want to win.

“It’s brilliant when you’re doing it. It was a tough, tough day when we went there (Easter Road) and lost. That’s the nature of a derby, isn’t it?

“Everyone wants to win everything in the city. There’s obviously two sides so you just want to come out on the right side of it.

“I think every game from now until the end of the season is going to be huge because there’s so much riding on it so we just have to treat every game the exact same.

“You want to win every single game and get as many points as you can before the end of the season.”