Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson has Aberdeen in his sights after watching his side close the gap on the Dons to six points with victory against Caley Thistle.
The Jambos cruised to victory against Inverness at Tynecastle last night thanks to goals from Jamie Walker and Abiola Dauda.
Neilson is reluctant to talk about the Dons, but with his side at home on Saturday to Partick Thistle in the league the gap could be down to three points by the time Aberdeen travel to Firhill on Tuesday.
Neilson said: “It’s up to Aberdeen whether they want to look over their shoulder at us.
“We’re sitting in a good position in third place and we want to cement that. We want get European football and then push on from there.
“We’ve had two home games and won them both and we have another one on Saturday against Partick. Our plan was to try to get nine points and we’ve got six now so we’re going well.
“The target at the start of the season was to make the top six and we’re ahead of schedule. Our aim last year was to win the Championship and we did that at the first time of asking, but now we’re looking to kick on again and try to get as close to the top as we can.”
Neilson was pleased to see Walker continue to impress with another goal and has backed the attacker to become a key player in the remaining games this season.
He said: “Jamie is a good player and he showed that again. Since he came back from injury in January it has been like having a new playev
“He’s got great ability but he needs to build up his fitness and the time on the pitch tonight will have done him good.
“I was pleased for him and the team. We started the game well and showed a lot of patience to keep the ball before scoring a good goal.
“We created more chances in the second half and managed to kill the game off, and I felt it was a comfortable evening for us.”