Hearts manager Daniel Stendel reckons this season's relegation dogfight is going right to the bitter end.
After a shaky start to life in Edinburgh, Stendel's Jambos look to have turned a corner. They eliminated Rangers from the Scottish Cup last weekend, before picking up a monumental derby win at Easter Road that moved them off the foot of the table.
Their venture up the standings lasted just 24 hours, however, as Hamilton 's unlikely win at Ibrox saw them immediately leapfrog their relegation rivals.
But while Stendel admits his side might have felt a tinge of disappointment at watching Accies pick up a massive victory, he says Hearts can't afford the luxury of expecting other teams to do the job for them.
He wants his players to take care of their own business, and expects the race for survival to go right to the wire.
"We can not expect that the other teams will play for us; we have to play for us," Stendel said, as quoted by the BBC .
"To be honest, yesterday I thought what would I need to say to the players today about this being only one step and to concentrate on the next game. But, after the result, it's easy to say it was only one step.
"I did not see the game but yes, it was a good result for Hamilton.
"Sometimes we will win games and other times the other team will win games. I think it will be decided on the last game.
"I hope we can get some more points and we can bring some other teams into the fight to stay in the league.
"When some teams win against Celtic and Rangers we think 'oh no' but we can only look after ourselves and we need to show we can play the game.
"We need to keep up our performances in games to win that will help our situation as we can't influence the other teams."
Hearts sit two points behind 11th-placed Accies with a game in hand, and will be hoping to take care of their end once again this weekend when Motherwell visit Tynecastle.
Hamilton host Kilmarnock at the same time, with the Edinburgh side's spare game contested at St Mirren on Wednesday evening.
