It is a debate that Hibernian supporters can argue long into this Hogmanay evening about, but in the minds of many the signing of 2009 has been midfielder Liam Miller. In a year when the latter half of which at least has provided a number of happy memories at Easter Road, Miller has been a consistent force in the Hibernian midfield - providing the kind of quality that John Hughes is determined to have in every area of the park.

The arrival of Miller and his Irish international team-mate Anthony Stokes has added a spark to Hibernian and under the guidance of John Hughes the year could hardly have ended better, and even the setback of defeat to Rangers in what turned out to be the final game of the year has not blunted the feelings of confidence as Hibernian leave another decade behind them and move into 2010.

The New Year will lift off in the best possible way at Easter Road on Sunday when Heart of Midlothian provide the first opposition - and far from denting confidence, the loss to Rangers in the mind of Miller and his team-mates has boosted determination: "Everyone was of course disappointed on Sunday as we feel we let ourselves down a bit, and now we are looking forward to the game this Sunday with a chance to get ourselves back to winning again. It's a Derby game and that brings that extra bit of spice but most of all we are looking to bounce back as quickly as possible. We can look back on the twelve games but this is no time to be patting ourselves on the back, there as still six months of football to be played and if anything we have a great deal to improve on during that six months.

"There is no point feeling sorry for yourself - you are not going to get anything out of the next game by doing that. We had a meeting on Tuesday and we spoke about things that happened - now it is all about looking forward to the next game and making sure we don't make the same mistakes. We are looking forward to going out there and beating Hearts, it is of course going to be a tough game but it is one that everyone is looking forward to - we're hurting from last week so this Sunday just cannot come quick enough for us."

A third consecutive win for Hearts last night has provided a further boost to the visitors - and as predicted by John Hughes the Tynecastle outfit have not worked their way back into the top six as a result. Form however is rarely a pointer to the eventual winner in any Derby: "Hearts have done well in the last couple of weeks but it's a Derby game and form goes out of the window for these games in any case. It will I'm sure be a very good game and a hard one for us, but also a great occasion for us to show what we can do and to bounce back from last time.

"The supporters out there will be on our side and that is something else we will be hoping to make count - every game is different of course and Derby games have more tempo to them, it can be more of a battle so it comes down to the day and how you play in that 90 minutes. We have to ensure that we play the football we want to play on the day."

Looking into the New Year, Miller is convinced that whatever good Hibernian have done this season is nothing compared to what the current side are capable of: "We could be doing better, we've had a few good results but we have also dropped points here and there that we should not have, we've not played as well as we can do although at times we've ground out results. Looking back though I really do think there is a lot more to come from us this season, the second half of the season is going to be a big test for us and we want to improve on the first half.

"We really feel as a team that we can do a lot better than we have done, we can see in training the quality that we have but we are not producing it week in week out - we are aiming on doing a lot better."

From everyone at Hibernian Football Club, we wish you a Very Happy New Year - we'll be back tomorrow!