Gary Mackay: Hearts demolished Hibs without a peak performance so I don't know what John Collins is thinking

Hearts against Celtic in the Scottish Cup quarter-final will be the game everybody is talking about next month. It promises to be a pivotal few days for everybody at Tynecastle and I, for one, cannot wait.

We are at Celtic Park on the Wednesday in the league and then it’s Celtic in the cup a few days later. For Robbie Neilson and the coaching staff, it’s a case of: ‘Do you show your hand at Celtic Park in the first game or not?’ It’s a real stick or twist job for any manager when you play the same opponents consecutively in two different competitions in a short space of time.

Celtic are the best team in Scotland at this moment in time so, in that regard, it’s the one club you didn’t want out of those left in the cup. However, there is also that knowledge that, at Tynecastle, Hearts can really give them a game. The place will be rocking and our recent record against Celtic at home offers some encouragement.

Think of it this way: There is more opportunity to beat Celtic at Tynecastle than there would be if Hearts got to the semi-final and then had to play them at Hampden. I'm actually really looking forward to it, this is a massive game that’s got the juices flowing.

As a team, Hearts will need to be near perfection to get through. You don’t get a chance to put in a good performance against Celtic and win. It needs to be brilliant or very close to it.

Robert Snodgrass spoke about the habit of winning this week and never to get tired of it, and that resonated with me. Hearts haven’t played at their peak in every game recently but still came away with a 3-0 win at Easter Road, for example. I heard John Collins saying Hibs were the better team after that game. Hearts went 22 games and 18 games unbeaten against Hibs – did he play in a better team than us? I’m not sure how he got to that conclusion.

From Hearts’ perspective, it shows the standards the coaches and players are setting when we are questioning the quality of our performance after beating our Edinburgh rivals 3-0 in their own backyard. Those are some great standards to be setting. Long may they continue.