Do Hearts lack the mentality for title challenge?

Our defence against Motherwell may have been as strong as the auld Castle Rock, but our forwards couldn't score and the talk now among Scottish football pundits is that Hearts' title tilt is idle.

The Hearts 'bubble bursting' meme has been out in the past few days as we now have only registered one victory in games following the 3-1 win against Celtic in late October.

Even bookmakers have us back as third favourites now behind the Old Firm. Derek McInnes said post-match a point against Motherwell is a good result but can you imagine the furore had Celtic interim boss Martin O'Neill or Rangers' Danny Rohl said similar?

That really says where we are at right now – I don't think Hearts are proven 'mentality monsters' like the Old Firm. When you're challenging for a league title, every point is a prisoner.

Hearts aren't experienced enough in these high-pressure situations and now we are seen as a scalp given our standing in the league table.

McInnes and the team deserve immense credit for the start so far, but if we have ambitions of ending the dominance the two Glasgow sides have had for decades, we need to bounce back this week with at least four points.

Kilmarnock are a bogey team for us at Tynecastle. In the past 10 contests in Gorgie, they've picked up five wins and three draws. And given they are winless in seven games, it has the feeling of a potential banana skin for us.

It'll be intriguing to see how Del uses the squad for this game while having one eye on the weekend trip to Celtic Park, which is likely to be Wilfried Nancy's first match in charge.

I would rather face the unknown Nancy in the Celtic dugout than Martin O'Neill, as he has absolutely revitalised that side.

Yet this is where the Hearts players must have the belief regardless of who they come up against - we will win the game if we execute our gameplan to perfection. We can't have the mindset that we 'need some Celtic players to underperform' to get something.