Jonsson targets strong finish to season

Hearts defender Eggert Jonsson wants to finish a disappointing season on a high but Hibernian are out to end their European dream this weekend. Jonsson says the Jambos squad held crisis talks back in October after a poor start to the season that easily could have seen them dragged into a relegation dogfight.They took until their final game before the split to secure a top-six finish but were still in a good position to challenge for a Europa League spot.Back-to-back defeats have left that ambition hanging by a thread, which will snap if they lose tomorrow's Edinburgh derby, but Jonsson is remaining positive."We started the season really badly, to say the least," he said."I remember back in October, I sat in the dressing room after a defeat and we were talking, the players."We just said, 'We have to look at reality here and if we keep doing what we've been doing, we might have a chance to go down'."After that, obviously things got better and we finished in the top six."We were hoping to get into Europe and climb up."We've still got a chance to do it, but it will be a really hard task to get it."Hibernian defender Paul Hanlon believes the European equation makes tomorrow's derby even bigger than usual.He said: "To beat Hearts at any point is massive for the club but when you're pushing on towards Europe at the end of the season then it's obviously an even bigger result."Hibs are in freefall, losing their last five matches, and Hanlon has urged his team-mates to take charge of their own destiny tomorrow."I think everyone's got to take added responsibility on in these games," he said."You can't be scared to get on to the pitch."You've got to to get on it and do your job properly. If we can get our whole team doing that then we should be all right."Hanlon wants Hibs to take a leaf out of their arch-rivals' book following last month's derby defeat."We were disappointed with the last game at Tynecastle," he said. "They came out of the traps, got two goals early on and that sort of killed us."But it's a different game now, we've got to take the initiative going forward and take as many chances as we can to win the game."

Source: Team_Talk