Three Premiership sides face ‘crescendo’ in top-six chase

Sitting a point ahead of the other two and with a much superior goal difference, Hearts are in pole position, but they are away from home and have to go head-to-head with a Motherwell side for whom it is win or bust.

St Mirren, meanwhile, need to beat visitors Ross County and hope Hearts fail to win at Fir Park.

With Hearts only five points clear of Dundee in the relegation play-off spot, Critchley understands “the importance of the game” and how each side will look at it “psychologically”.

“Motherwell will want to win the game, of course, but they’ll also be understanding that there’s consequences for losing the game as well,” the Englishman, who took over in October with Hearts bottom of the table, said.

“It’s not like a normal, regular league game that you play every week.”

While Critchley stresses that, while Hearts are a club who would normally expect a top-six finish, “from where we were when I took over to where we are now, we’ve made progress. The fact that we’re fighting to the top six is credit to the players”.

Despite losing 1-0 at home to United last time out, he believes that: “If we can play to a similar level with a little bit of extra, quality and intelligence in front of the goal, then I’m sure we’ll get the result that we need.

“We have that one game, it’s in our hands.”