Hearts captain Steven Naismith branded his stuttering side "not good enough" as he reflected on a rancid run of results that piled the pressure on boss Robbie Neilson.
The Jambos have won only two of their last nine games with a shock Scottish Cup exit to Highland League Brora Rangers included in that period.
Naismith missed a whole month of action through injury and returned to come off the bench against Dunfermline at the weekend in a 0-0 draw at East End Park that, while disappointing, does take the club one small step closer to promotion back to the Scottish Premiership.
Just five points from a remaining four games will be enough to secure the Championship title but as the Tynecastle side crawl to the finish line Naismith believes some stars are playing within themselves with the pressure mounting.
He told the Edinburgh Evening News: "Recent results haven’t been good enough. And on top of that the bigger disappointment is, because we have the lead in the league, the cup competitions are the ones you look at.
“Our record before that was four semi-finals and two finals, and then we do what we did in the Scottish Cup final earlier in the season.
“There’s an expectation there, a level we should be performing at, and it’s not been there and that’s really poor and it has not been good enough.
“In recent performances the quality has not been good enough, that has been the problem.
“We’ve still got a point here and that’s us a point closer to the title, but you want to be enjoying this part of the season – so much hard work has gone into it.
“The more results haven’t gone our way the more players have started to become a bit more safe with our passes.
“As a footballer I have been in those situations and it’s tough to play freely, and that’s been the case.
“We have to take the positive – it’s a point and it puts more pressure on the teams chasing us."
