Stendel: Hearts hope others get drawn into drop fight

Daniel Stendel has said that he’s hoping other teams can get drawn into the relegation fight ahead of the crucial post-split fixtures.

A 3-1 derby win saw Hearts climb off bottom spot on Tuesday but Hamilton’s surprise win at Ibrox 24 hours later dumped the Tynecastle side back into the twelfth place.

Despite that, Stendel said that the victory, coming after a Scottish Cup win over Rangers, had boosted confidence and he is eager to take on the sides just above them when the league separates into top and bottom six.

Before that, there are five Premiership fixtures for team to negotiate, starting with the visit of Motherwell on Saturday.

“I hope we can get some points more in the next game and we can bring other teams also in to the fight to stay in the league,” Stendel said.

“We have five games left (before the split) We want to collect as many points as we can until the split.

“The situation at the moment is not comfortable for no one team in the league, but for us it’s not really changed after our win. It was good that we won that game (on Tuesday) but we have a long way to go.

“The advantage is (after the split) that you play against your direct opponents. This is good. We cannot say other teams do this. We have it in our hands, but before the split starts we have five games.”

The midweek win over Hibs delivered three points and local bragging rights but for Stendel it also showed the team were on the right track and building form just when they really need it,

“It really was the first time this season that we’ve won two big games in a row,” he said. “It’s a good sign for all that we can do it.

“And also the kind of play in both games was really good and this is the main point for me to take from these games.

“We showed the mentality on Tuesday, plus our discipline, and that was important for me and gave us the advantage to win the game.”