Chris Hogg has enough Derby-day experience to be aware that nothing about the Edinburgh version of a battle between local rivals can be taken as read. Hibernian go into this weekend fully ten points clear of their city rivals, but the gap has in itself no relevance, the real challenge for Hibernian is gathering three points to help boost their challenge for a place in Europe next term.

While Hearts are battling to ensure a top-six slot at the league split, their main rivals remain in the important mix in league and cup - the next two games could be described as games that can make or break that Hibernian challenge, a point put to the Hibernian skipper last night: "In some respects yes it can be described that way - the Derby is always a big game and one you always want to take the points from, and if we can do that this week then it gives us a big boost in the league. We have a big cup replay then on Tuesday - so yes it is a big week for our football club, for the league though I don't think it's quite make-or-break just yet with ten games left, but taking points on Saturday would certainly be a big help."

Hibernian have struggled to find the type of form they demonstrated for most of the first half of the season - but Hogg insists that does not mean the pressure is beginning to tell on the squad: "No the pressure really is not beginning to tell on us - obviously we would've wanted to play a bit better recently but over the season we've been fairly consistent and our current points tally shows that. We know that we need to add to that in those last ten games to ensure we get to where we want to be, our target is still to finish third in the league and that is still in our hands. What is vital now is that everyone at the club sticks together - supporters, management and players - to help push us over that finishing line from now to the end of the season.

"Football supporters are entitled to voice their opinions - we have a duty to entertain and last weekend we did not do that, so I can understand the frustrations but if we are to push on and conclude a successful season we need them to be with us and helping get us over the line."

For the time being the forthcoming clash in Dingwall must be laid to one side, and that is easy enough to do as nothing can ever distract from a game against Hearts: "It is of course always tough in a Derby match and we keep saying this but it's true, the form book does not matter much in these games. We've done fine there the last few times we've been to Tynecastle, probably have liked to have picked up more points but we are looking forward to improving on that this time.

"We know just what we need to do, we've been talking about it all week and we've trained hard this week - we have to go there and ensure we have a solid foundation at the back and use that to launch our attacks."