Toby Sibbick: Hearts defender reveals players meeting this week and why he had to focus on himself

The on-loan Barnsley player had shown real promise in his only two starts before injury and then illness forced him onto the sidelines.

Taking time to recover from glandular fever, he had been ready to resume training and hopeful of helping the Gorgie side avoid relegation when the covid crisis intervened and lockdown led to clubs voting to end the league campaign and demote the struggling Tynecastle outfit from the Premiership.

But while they booked an immediate return to the top flight, the young Englishman spent the first half of last season on loan in Belgium, struggling to make an impact at Oostende. It proved difficult but now that he is back at Hearts, he is happy to see the season shaping up very differently to the last one he experienced in Scotland.

“Even last time we managed to get to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and then Covid hit and stopped everything,” said Sibbick. “Looking in before coming here, I knew the vision of the club and what they wanted to achieve. Already in a short space of time they've achieved that.

“We want to keep heading in that direction and it's great to be a part of.”

With third place in the league secured and a place in the group stage of European competition already booked for next term, Hearts will be using the final five league games to prepare themselves for their season’s curtain call, in the Scottish Cup final.

“We had a meeting about it [on Thursday]. We set targets out at the start of the season and we want to achieve that.

“We've got five games left. We want to win all five to put us in the best possible form going into the final. But we need to take it one game at a time.

“We've got to stay on it. You see it anywhere in football. If you slip up then there's another team ready to pounce. We know what we need to do and what we need to achieve, so we need to stay mentally prepared.

“Everyone wants to be in that starting XI and between now and the end of the season there are a lot of places up for grabs. We've got a good squad, a really competitive squad. Everyone is fighting for their place.”

Playing an understudy role, this time around the 22-year-old has failed to find his best form but he is improving and looked far more comfortable when he was moved inside following Craig Halkett’s injury against Hibs in last weekend’s semi-final.

But he says the impact of the pandemic on his career has helped him mature.

“When I first left Hearts I didn’t play a competitive game for a year. I had to focus on myself as a person and take time off the pitch and realise what was going on.”

And, he believes there is more to come from him and Hearts.

“If we keep the same squad we can achieve more. There are some results this season that have not been good enough but if we get that out of our game we can really compete and do have the talent and the squad to do that.”