'Mood music has changed after back-to-back wins'

Back-to-back wins and two clean sheets, Neil Critchley's wish at the Hogmanay bells seems to have came true.

I believe you can make statistics suit any narrative you wish. Like Jamie McCart winning 100% of his aerial duals v Dundee United (who cares that he only played three minutes?). But every time there's been a form of protest recently, Hearts have responded by being victorious.

So you have to say fair play to Critchley and his side for blocking out the pre-match noise and responding coolly and professionally on the pitch.

We have now opened an eight-point gap over bottom club St Johnstone, and despite being 11th, we're only four points off St Mirren in sixth.

Suddenly the mood music around the fanbase has changed. There's even people looking to catch Dundee United and Aberdeen for third spot. Madness.

As fate would have it, we are playing one of the sides whose form has nosedived since Critchball rolled into Scottish football, Aberdeen.

Our record up there is terrible. You have to go back over eight-and-a-half years for our last win. However, there's some belief we can extend the Dons' current winless run to 11 games.

I'd bite your hand off at a point now, though. I've seen this movie far too many times, where teams are struggling for form, Hearts roll into town, and the opposition turn into the equivalent of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona.

McCart could make his first start and Belgian forward Elton Kabangu may feature but I hope we see the same starting 11 for the third consecutive match.

It's made a massive difference having a settled defence, while Jorge Grant and Liam Boyce have been great since coming into the team. Cynics will say their good form coincides with their contracts running down, but I think their experience has been what we've missed.

My predictions this season have been consistently wrong, so I'll try to continue that feat by saying that our winless record in the Granite City will continue…