There are three games that really set the tone each season at Hearts according to Robbie Neilson, and his team turned it on against Inverness in the last of them this season.
Goals from Gary Mackay-Steven and Aaron McEneff ensured Championship trophy day in their final home fixture was marked with a win in the sun at Tynecastle.
The other two - the first home game of the campaign and the match closest to remembrance Sunday - also ended in Hearts victories.
He said: "I've played here for a number of years. There are three games at Hearts in the season that are massive.
"The first game of the season, the Remembrance game is really important for the club and the last game here to set the tone for the summer and today was brilliant.
"Credit to Inverness because it felt like a Premiership game. A lot of time in this league, teams come here to stifle and sit in."
On the decision to lift the trophy after some fans had called for them not to, Neilson said: "We had a lot of discussions with the board, players and staff during the week.
"We understand two sides of it. We understand the frustrations of the fans who didn't want us to lift it, but also there was a group of fans who wanted us to lift it.
"We just felt as a group that we had to respect the trophy and the competition of the league."
Skipper Steven Naismith added: “Normally with the successful teams I have been in, you have a nice day on trophy day, you have a nice pitch and nice performance and today was that.
“On the football side it was very good and it was probably a marker of where we need to be.
“That’s been the problem in the past and when you put in performances like that people expect it, and we can’t lose sight of that going forward."
Hearts fans have been waiting for Mackay-Steven to burst into life since signing in January and he did just that for the opening goal. Peter haring’s pass was fizzed into him and he burst away from Scott Allan with his first touch before drilling low past Ridgers.
A similar strike saw the champions doble their advantage. Liam Boyce ran in behind before reversing the ball back to the arriving McEneff. His strike may have taken a slight deflection but it nestled in the same.
The Jambos were turning on the style and it should have been three when a wicked Haring delivery looked to have given Armand Gnanduillet a tap in at the back post but a combination of Ridgers and Robbie Deas seemed to put him off.
It was 3-0 and game over on the half-hour mark when Danny Devine hesitated when trying to deal with a lofted ball behind the defence and Mackay-Steven nipped in and the defender played the ball off him when attempting to clear, only for it to ricochet off the Hearts man and in.
It hadn’t been a good day for Neil McCann until that point, and it got worse when he was sent to the stand. A wild challenge by Sean Welsh on Boyce promoted a strong reaction from Neilson, which McCann didn’t take kindly to and appeared to offer out his former teammate before Bobby Madden sent him packing.
The ICT boss admitted afterwards that he let himself down, saying: "I don't particularly take defeat well. It's just pure frustration. I came in here to do a job for the club and I take it personally.
“It's not just on the team, it's on me as well - I'm part of that. I probably let my emotions get too much, Maybe I hadn't calmed down since the half-time talk. I'll look at that. Every day is a school day.
“My conduct's been pretty good up until that point so maybe it just built up on me. That's not good enough regardless. I lost my cool and got sent off.”
