Michael Weir: Forget Hibs-Hearts semi-final - the next match against Aberdeen is most important

I sat at Easter Road listening to people around me talking about Hibs’ Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts before a ball was kicked in the derby which was about to start.

To be honest, I’m not interested in it, at least for the moment. Next month’s match, which will presumably take place at Hampden, will undoubtedly be a special day for both sets of fans.

But for the moment I’m more concerned with the big matches Hibs have coming up, starting with Saturday’s trip to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

The ambition to clinch a place in next season’s Europa League remains but we’re certainly making it hard for ourselves and a great deal of that is to do with our home form both under Paul Heckingbottom and now Jack Ross.

I found it astonishing that Hearts’ victory on Tuesday night was their first league win away from home since they won at Easter Road back in September. That’s a damning statistic in itself, but the truth of the matter is that we’ve slipped up far too often in our own backyard.

We’ve managed just five wins in 15 home games, a mere 22 points out of a possible 45 taken.

Yes, there have been notable wins against Motherwell and Aberdeen, the two teams currently sitting second and third but that’s tempered by too many disappointing results, particularly games in which we’ve been in front.

Incredibly, with the exemption of Hamilton, we’ve managed to surrender points to every other side in the bottom half of the table, including throwing away two-goal leads against Ross County and Kilmarnock and conceding a last-minute equaliser to St Johnstone.

Now we’ve only got four games until the split. We still have to secure a place in the top six so we can’t afford any more slip-ups if we are to have any hope of making up for those dropped points.

It would have been dispiriting for the players to see large swathes of Easter Road emptying at a rapid rate of knots after Hearts’ second goal. The ground was the quietest I can remember for a long time as far as the home fans were concerned. They can be unforgiving and it’s up to the players to make up to them.