AND the mind-games have begun. Grant Holt, the Hibernian striker, was the first on either side to chuck a verbal grenade a good five days ahead of the Edinburgh derby when he insisted all the pressure is on Hearts.

It's a nonsense, of course. His team are the Scottish Cup holders and their supporters could think of no worse place to lost their grip on the trophy than Tynecastle. However, it's all a bit of fun.

Holt, now 35, even took a sly dig at Hearts' win over Rangers last week, a 4-1 going on a lot more, claiming the result was due to the bad play from the visitors rather than anything his club's old pals from Gorgie did on the night.

Such mouthy jostles are par for the course in the lead-up to such a massive game and they always seem to do a work to some extent. It's now up to Holt and Hearts to do a job on Sunday.

Holt has questioned how they will cope with the favourites tag at Tynecastle on Sunday when the Scottish Cup holders arrive in Gorgie for a repeat of last season's fifth round tie.

"We will go to Tynecastle and we know how good we can be," he said. "We didn't show how good we are against Ayr on Saturday but if somebody from Hearts was watching that, they won't have learned anything about us from that game.

"I watched the Hearts game against Rangers and, to be honest, I saw a bad Rangers team; a team that couldn't keep the ball and couldn't move the ball. To be fair to Hearts, they scored the goals and played well. But so they should, because all the expectancy was on Rangers. People expected Rangers to go there and win - but this time the pressure is on Hearts.

"The good thing is, the pressure is all on them. We are the Championship team and they are supposedly better than us and in a bigger league - that's what I keep hearing - so we will see how they like the pressure and we will see what happens on Sunday."

The well-travelled Holt is no stranger to a fiery local derby, and is adamant the stakes are no different whether it is a raucous Anglian clash between Norwich and Ipswich or the more modest meeting of Rochdale and Bury.

And, as a man with a derby-day hat-trick on his CV, Holt is desperate to get back among the goals trail and help Hibs grab the bragging rights - and keep hold of their trophy.

"I have scored in one or two in derbies," Holt basted. "I scored a hat-trick in one major one, a Norwich-Ipswich game. But it doesn't matter if it is an Edinburgh derby, a Glasgow derby or Norwich v Ipswich, it's the same passion.

"I've played in Bury-Rochdale and, let me tell you, they are as heated too. It doesn't really matter where it is, you don't want to get beat by your rivals and you don't want to let your fans down. Hearts will feel the same.

"A lot of the boys played in it last year and the atmosphere was fantastic - and the lads responded so it's a game that we are looking forward to again."

Holt is acutely aware that notching a precious strike in the derby will be the perfect way to end his own malaise in front of goal. He has not found the net since scoring in a 2-0 win over St Mirren in October 29, with a frustrating barren spell now standing at 10 matches.

The Englishman, however, has been around the block enough times to be sure his fortune will soon reverse.

"I had one myself cleared off the line near the end against Ayr, which sums up my luck in the last few weeks," he said. "I think I've had five chances cleared off the line and, after this week, we can make that six. My luck has got to turn around at some point."

Sunday would be a nice time for that to happen.