For the majority of the second half of the Scottish Cup fifth-round clash with Airdrieonians, the Heart of Midlothian support at the Excelsior Stadium, led by the Gorgie Ultras, sang about Steven Naismith as the team eased to a comfortable 4-1 win on Sunday.

When it was time to leave the ground and even days after, Oasis' She's Electric was a constant earworm. The support had brought back the song for Naismith they had when he was a player, scoring against both "Hibees and Celtic". 

"Done things we never expected" is perhaps the most pertinent of lines.

The Hearts head coach was doubted and criticised earlier in the season. When Hearts traveled to Fir Park in November, following a lacklustre performance and subsequent defeat in the League Cup semi-final to Rangers, the idea that the Hearts fans would be singing about their manager in such positives terms appeared, at best, farfetched.

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That win over Motherwell was one of those games you look back on at the end of the season and pinpoint as pivotal. An international break followed the game. Defeat and the noise from the outside would have grown louder and louder. The team won, putting in a fine performance to accompany the three points. It was at that time when games, externally at least, were viewed as must-win.

The change in outlook couldn't be more different. Throughout the win over Airdrie, there was a feel-good factor. Fans singing about Europe and the Scottish Cup. Fans enjoying themselves. 

Supporters who had all but made up their minds on the head coach have pleasantly accepted and respected the significant progress the team has made. Even if Aberdeen and Hibs had bordered on competent in the past few months they would have struggled to keep pace with the Lawrence Shankland-led Gorgie juggernaut.

Hearts return to league action on Saturday, at home to Motherwell, with a mammoth 22-point advantage over the two teams who were expected to provide the stiffest competition for third place. Instead, it is St Mirren and Kilmarnock who are the closest competitors. Both have a lot going for them.

The idea, however, that Hearts could take their eye off the prize - that prize being third place - in the final 13 league games of the season is fanciful with the memory, and perhaps pain, of last season still lingering. A lot of the characters from that campaign remain but the team appear to be in a much stronger position, both in terms of on the pitch with regard to depth, flexibility and defensive fortitude, and also mentally. The team have proven over recent weeks and months they can win in a variety of ways. Dominance and control, blitzing opponents, come-from-behind success or just finding a way to get three points over the line.

Naismith, in public, won't set specific targets. He'll hear the noise but ensure it doesn't penetrate the squad's focus. It's about continuity and progress. It's about the small details that can help the team improve incrementally. All these improvements and details have put Hearts in an enviable position in third place and the possible reward of European group-stage football next season.

The Maroons go into the final third of the league campaign on 48 points. Looking at the points total of the team finishing third since the change to the SPFL and Premiership, the average is 64.5. Rounding up to 65 means the team likely require 17 points from the remaining 13 fixtures. A total that should be achieved with relative ease, taking into account the current run. 

READ MORE: Hearts 'next big project': Future of training base and playing investment

Across the past nine full Premiership seasons, Rangers have been the only team to finish third while reaching the 70-point mark. It's another target that is within reach.

Now, Hearts fans will unlikely need reminded of this, but finishing the campaign strongly is not something that has been in the club's repertoire over the last decade or so.

Last season the team picked up 12 points from the last 13 games. It was 18 from 13 in the campaign prior when the team sauntered to third. Season 2019/20? Let's not go there. After starting 2018/19 very strongly the form fell off a cliff with eight points from the last 13 outings. There was a surprise earlier in the week when Hearts' official Twitter account posted stats that showed the current unbeaten run is the best since the 2017/18 season. It gave way to just 15 points from the final 14 games.

The season before saw nine defeats in 13 games with just eight points earned. The 2015/16 campaign when the team finished third following promotion from the Championship petered out down the home straight with third secured. Four straight wins were followed by just two in the final nine. 

Gary Locke's 2013/14 team should take loads of credit, winning five of their last eight, including two derby victories and a 5-0 win over Kilmarnock. Seasons 2011/12 and 2012/13 were incredibly inconsistent. That brings us to the big 'What if?' of 2010/11. Hearts, under Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown, won 12 out of 14 league games between October and January. Following a 1-0 win over Rangers at Tynecastle the team were seven points off top after 21 fixtures and had a game in hand. They would win three of their next four remaining seven points from the summit, although they had now played one game more.

READ MORE: Macaulay Tait's Hearts journey: Summer camps, Lowland League, first-team role

Of the last 12 games, with the totemic Kevin Kyle absent, the team won just once. 

Take a bigger jump back in time to the 1997/98 campaign. That of the Scottish Cup success. Hearts finished the 36-game campaign just seven points behind champions Celtic, the title challenge undone by just two wins from the last 10.

What this should do is provide a warning against any complacency but also provide another avenue in which this Hearts side can buck a trend. They've done just that with the away from.

This team will want to keep the foot down rather than ease off. They will want to put the demons of last season behind them with big targets on the horizon. Doing so will ensure the feel-good factor grows and grows for what could be a momentous final third of the season, in league and cup.