Stephen Kingsley believes Hearts have still not reached their peak as he fired an Edinburgh derby warning to rivals Hibs.
The capital rivals are set to lock horns at Easter Road this weekend in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup in a second meeting of the duo in 2023. Robbie Neilson's men battered the Hibees 3-0 at Tynecastle on January 2 and go into this one off the back of a thumping 5-0 win over Aberdeen to maintain their excellent run of form since the World Cup return.
Despite hitting Jim Goodwin's men for five, Jambos star Kingsley believes they DID NOT play anywhere near the levels they can as he called on his Hearts pals to not read into past results or the current form of Lee Johnson's men this weekend. He says Hearts need to make sure they are the better team on the day with the form guide all going out the window come the big kick-off.
READ MORE: Robbie Neilson names three key Hearts components as he sends 'no matter what happens' Hibs message
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He said: "They have had a tough time of it recently, but a derby’s a derby and, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter about past results or current form. All that goes out the window in a big derby and a cup game, especially. It is about the better team on the day. We need to make sure that is us.”
On the hammering of Aberdeen, he continued: "I think we can still play a lot better, I don’t think we played anywhere near our best. I think we have certainly played better and not gotten that kind of result. Sometimes that can happen.
“We were clinical in front of goal, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. In fact, I think the first time we played Aberdeen, up there, in the first half we dominated and were brilliant in the first half but couldn’t score.
“We missed something like three sitters and then, in the second half, they came out, did much better, scored two goals and we got beat 2-0. It was good that this time we took our chances and maybe they were tired from their game the other day so us converting those early chances and being clinical was obviously massive.”
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