Paulo Sergio has demanded more from his Hearts side as they seek to climb above Sunday's opponents St Johnstone in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and claim a place in Europe.

Victory for St Johnstone, who enter the fixture with a one-point lead over Hearts, would wrap up fifth place for the Perth side and a place in the Europa League next term.

If that were to happen, Hearts' only avenue to continental competition would be by winning the first all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup final since 1896.

In what could prove to be his final match at Tynecastle, Sergio is seeking an improved performance after a 2-2 draw at Dundee United and 1-0 loss to Motherwell.

"We lost two great chances to have a better position," said the Hearts boss, who is out of contract this summer.

"We can do better, but the bigger problem was our effectiveness.

"In both games we had six, seven good situations to score and we did not allow great chances for our opponents, but they were effective and we weren't.

"These games are very important to us. We have achieved top six, but if we can be fifth or fourth, we shouldn't want to be sixth.

"Let's keep doing what we have been doing, but we should have better effectiveness to get a result.

"We have a lot to play for in this game and we know that throughout the season we haven't had the better of results against St Johnstone.

"We have lots to prove to ourselves, first of all that we can get a result."

Striker Craig Beattie (hamstring) is again set to miss out, Ian Black continues to nurse a hernia problem while Adrian Mrowiec (knee) has returned to training. Jamie Hamill (knee) is out.

Striker Fransciso Sandaza is suspended, midfielder Lee Croft is still out with a hamstring injury and Dave Mackay is likely to be missing again due to a family issue.

On-loan Celtic forward James Keatings returns after being sidelined for the game against his parent club.

Hearts squad: MacDonald, McGowan, Zaliukas, Webster, Grainger, Prychynenko, Barr, Black, Santana, Driver, Skacel, Glen, Ridgers, Elliott, Mrowiec, Novikovas, Robinson, Holt, Smith, Morton, Taouil.

St Johnstone squad: Mannus, Maybury, Wright, McCracken, Anderson, Callum Davidson, Millar, Riordan, Morris, Adams, Haber, Murray Davidson, Craig, Sheridan, Enckelman, Keatings, Moon, Oyenuga, Moffat, Hutchinson.