Michael Stewart wasn’t keen on spreading too much Christmas cheer regarding Hearts despite their win over St Johnstone on Sunday.
The Jambos bounced back from their Europa Conference League disaster against Petrocub with a much-needed 2-1 victory over their fellow Premiership strugglers.
The three points lifted Hearts off the bottom at Christmas and are now two points clear of the Perth Saints.
But Stewart turned Scrooge on Premier Sports’ latest The Scottish Football Social Club show by saying despite the lift in positivity, things could really turn sour at Tynecastle again if they lose the upcoming Edinburgh derby against arch-rivals Hibs on Boxing Day.
Stewart delivers Hearts ‘double-edged sword’ warning
Stewart said: “Certainly, it’s all positives from yesterday (Sunday), there’s no doubt about that. The performance, the result, the fact they are off the bottom of the table – it was good.
“But you’ve got to caveat it at the moment because of where the club have been this season so far. They were playing against the team directly above them and they’ve got the derby round the corner.
“All the sort of positivity that’s been picked up off the back of this result, that can multiply exponentially if they win the derby. But equally, lose the derby and it counts for nothing or goes lower than it does before it.
“It’s like how Hibs have been over the past few months or so, constantly living on a knife edge. Good performance, results have been a bit better, then the Ross County game came along, the peformance was terrible but the result wad good.
“You’re just constantly having to back up the performance and results – and Hibs have done that to be fair to them. Hearts need to keep doing that now and there’s no better game in the derby.
“But it is a massive double-edged sword in that sense.”
Hibs ‘favourites’ against Hearts
The panel were then asked for their Edinburgh derby predictions with just a couple of days to go until the big one at Tynecastle.
Hutton shared his thoughts: “I’m going to stick my neck on the line and say Hibs! The 3-3 game (against Aberdeen), from there I thought there were signs, they were showing character.
“Yes they’ve been through a lot, dip in form, but it feels like they are turning a corner.”