Hibs ace Marvin Bartley is looking to catch Edinburgh rivals Hearts in the league – and took a tongue-in-cheek jab at Jambos fans for bombarding him with messages earlier in the season.
There are only two points between the two capital sides and Bartley admitted that the aim is to overtake their rivals before the end of the season.
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Bartley joked that it was”interesting” the two teams were now so close after Hearts fans were sending him messages earlier in the season when Hearts were top of the table.
“You chase the team above you and it just happens to be Hearts. They lost to Hamilton so we are closing the gap on them. There are enough games for us to catch them and go beyond them, so that’s our next aim,” Bartley told the Edinburgh Evening News.
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“I thought they had won the league earlier in the season, the amount of messages I was getting from their fans, so it’s quite surprising that we are only two points behind them. That’s interesting, isn’t it?”
Since Neil Lennon’s Easter Road departure in January, the Hibees have taken 13 points from 15 in the league and look to have effectively sealed their top-six place with the weekend win over Motherwell.
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With the Edinburgh sides going head-to-head in the final round of games before the split, there’s a fantastic opportunity for Hibs to leapfrog Craig Levein’s side.
Both will meet once more after that, assuming Hearts make the top six, as the season reaches its climax.
There’s even an outside chance of reaching a European spot if Hibs can keep up their recent form – and it would be a deserved reward for Heckingbottom’s side.