One word sums up a major plus in the short time during which Steven Naismith has been in interim charge of Hearts, character.
Hearts battled back from losing Peter Haring to a red card to draw at St Mirren and then the Men in Maroon stunned Aberdeen but coming from behind to snatch a 2-1 win at Tynecastle.
The Jambos will need character in abundance when they travel to Ibrox to face Rangers in the penultimate match of their cinch Premiership campaign (19.45).
Hearts undoubtedly face a massive task at Ibrox but are aiming for a result to edge them closer to their third-place target which should guarantee European football next season.
The Ibrox side have won the last five meetings between the clubs and this season Rangers have recorded a 3-0 win at Tynecastle on February 1. They also won 1-0 at Ibrox in November and 4-0 in Edinburgh in early October.
Rangers beat Hibs 3-1 at Easter Road on Sunday, 24-hours after Hearts edged Aberdeen 2-1 at Tynecastle in the cinch Premiership and Hearts have one game left after Wednesday, a home clash with arch rivals Hibs on Saturday.
The league situation is this. Aberdeen are third with 54 points from 36 games. Hears are fourth with 52 points from the same number of games with Hibs fifth on 48 points also from 36 outings.
St Mirren, who travel to Pittodrie on Wednesday, are sixth with 46 points and they held champions Celtic 2-2 at Parkhead on Saturday.
Naismith told a press briefing at The Oriam that everybody is where they should be in preparing for the game and nobody who played against Aberdeen is flagging up that they are struggling.
And that includes Josh Ginnelly (pictured in training by Nigel Duncan) whose wonder goal two minutes from half-time sparked a gutsy comeback from 1-0 down to earn the valuable three points. He was substituted during the second-half.
Naismith added: “It is good to come through games and not think too much about injuries. In most games now it is high intensity and we are in a good place.”
He was asked by BBC Scotland Sport if Hearts can go to Ibrox playing their aggressive, high intensity attacking football and the interim boss replied: “Every game is different and there are certain things we need to watch out for.
“There is an opportunity for us to do what we want to do and not just survive in games. We want to cause as many problems as we can (for the opposition).”
The Irvine-born former Scotland international dismissed any suggestion that Rangers could drop their intensity as it would be possibly the “last hurrah” for some members of the Ibrox playing staff.
And he said: “I was in a successful team at Rangers, We had a lot of guys who were winners and who did all they could, not just to play for Rangers but be successful. No matter what games it is, that is the demand of the club.
“We have our own demands at Hearts and that is to compete and try and finish as high up the table as we can. We are definitely going there to cause as many problems as we can.”
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
