Hughes has the hunger to aim high with Hearts

Aaron HugHes claims a thirdplace finish in the Premiership should be a realistic target for Hearts. saturday’s 2-1 defeat to rangers leaves the Tynecastle side lying fifth, their last chance of catching st Johnstone gone.

speaking last november, ann Budge admitted she would be disappointed if the edinburgh side failed to replicate last season’s third-place finish.

after six wins in 24 games for coach Ian Cathro, however, Hearts sit four points clear of sixth-place Partick Thistle with two games to play.

Insisting the players and not Cathro are to blame for the slump, experienced defender Hughes said: ‘It’s a realistic target, third, and it should be for a club such as Hearts.

‘The responsibility then comes on to us as well to take the club forward. It’s not solely on the manager, everything isn’t on him.

‘We must step up, too, and understand what we’re playing for and look on it as an exciting thing, not be afraid of it and embrace the challenge — to take a team into europe or into a final and win silverware.

‘I’ve never actually won anything in my career for all the games I’ve played and it would be something I would love to do still.

‘There’s still a motivation there to do it and to be part of it would be something that would live with you for the rest of your career, to be part of that little bit of history and to really bring the club forward.

‘It would be great to be part of, everyone recognises that and now it’s a case of getting to work and trying to do it.’

Cathro describes the northern Ireland defender as his ‘message carrier’ and Hughes insists the fight by ten-man Hearts at Ibrox shows the players are united with the head coach.

‘We are all behind him,’ he continued. ‘He is working extremely hard. at times, we have to step up and take it, too.

‘He will be the first one to stand up and be at the front of everything and back what he does. He believes very much in what he wants to do and he believes in us and believes that we can turn the corner.

‘That is maybe a glimpse of it at Ibrox.

‘I get to work with him day in, day out and see what he’s all about, so I know how motivated he is, how good he is. It is up to us as players to take the responsibility of taking that work out on to the pitch.

‘We can do all the good work throughout the week, but if we don’t perform on the saturday, it is for nothing. so, yeah, he has taken a bit of stick, but he has never shied away from it. But as players we have to stand up and be counted, too.

‘I thought for a team that only had ten men, we were always well in the game, we always stayed in the game and gave ourselves a chance. obviously, we didn’t get the result, but there were so many positive

things to take from the game. ‘I think one of the frustrating things is we haven’t shown our true selves. ‘That is something we have been trying hard to put right. Then, hopefully, the results will come. ‘at Ibrox we did show that. although we didn’t get anything from the game, we did show what we are capable of when things do fall into place. We are able to take the things we do through the week into a game on a saturday. It’s just about building on that.’