Naismith: Hearts ‘in a good place’ ahead of Ibrox trip

Steven Naismith revealed that there will not be much change to the Hearts squad which travels along the M8 to face new league leaders Rangers in the cinch Premiership on Saturday (kick-off 15.00).

Kyosuke Tagawa is back involved with the group after concussion protocol and the head coach said: “Th way we have been playing, each game has had different aspects which we have had to deal with.

“Rangers have their way or playing, what they like to do and how they try to hurt you, especially being at home but, for us, we need to keep doing the things that we have been doing right.”

He added that this is the first time for a while that there has been a proper title challenge. Naismith experienced that himself and he added; “That dynamic is a different thing that you need to deal with.

“The intensness is there from my experience as a player so that changes the dynamic for the Old Firm but, for us, it is just about going and having as good a performance as we did the last time we were at Ibrox but getting a better result.

“We are in a much better place going into this and we are on a good run of form. Like every game, we go into it to get a win, but, for us, it is another game.”   

Stephen Kingsley (pictured), a stand-out against Motherwell last weekend, stressed that Hearts have a game plan for Ibrox and he hopes to come out on the right side of “small margins” which can decide a game.

He added: “We got a great result against Celtic at Parkhead (a 2-0 win) not long ago and that is something we are going to try and replicate at Ibrox, but it will be a tough challenge. They are on a great run of form but so are we.”