Naismith keen to stick with best XI despite having secured third
FOR players to pull on the maroon of Heart of Midlothian under Steven Naismith they have to earn it. That remains the case for the final three games of the season.
There may well have been an expectation from the outside that the Hearts manager would experiment or use the final three fixtures, with third place now confirmed, to provide fringe or young players with an opportunity or minutes to impress.
Naismith’s message was clear: “There’s always opportunity”. It is a message that remained consistent this season and will continue to do so. Supporters can expect the usual rotation across the next week as a midweek trip to St Mirren is sandwiched by home fixtures against Dundee and Rangers, starting with the former tomorrow. But there will be no significant surprises or wholesale changes.
The Hearts manager explained: “There’s always opportunity, and that’s every day, but I am not just going to put players in and say: ‘ Look, we have academy players’. That’s not going to happen.
“If there are boys in the squad from the academy and I think they deserve a chance then they’ll play. But there will not be loads of opportunities for the kids. The guys who have been performing in the B- team and have been in and around the first team for the past month, they’re the ones who are most likely to be involved.
“And then you have [ Liam] Boycie coming back from injury who needs minutes, Barrie [ McKay] needs minutes. We changed shape against Livingston and he was really good, but because the shape has changed and he has come on as a sub from that point, hopefully there will be an opportunity for him.”
He added: “We have three games in a week, over the season as a whole we have rotated bits, and that will be the same this week. That’s not us saying we’ll just give players minutes, we’ll put teams out we believe can win.”
The mention of Boyce will no doubt pique interest. There will be some within the club’s support who may well have given up on seeing the popular Northern Irishman back in action before the season’s end. But he is ready and Naismith will “hopefully” get the chance to provide him with that opportunity after plenty of hard work on the training pitch, in the gym and with rehab after a frustrating season alongside Craig Halkett.
“He will be in contention for the squads,” Naismith said. “He has worked really hard over the last few weeks to say: ‘ No, I want to be involved. I’m not just going to ride the season out.’ Him and Halks have done the same so we’ll wait and see. There’s no pressure but they are looking good from when they’ve come back.”
Meanwhile, Owen Dodgson insists Dundee still hold out hope of clinching a European spot despite last week’s 3- 1 setback against rivals St Mirren which took Stephen Robinson’s side five points clear in the battle for European football with three fixtures remaining.
But Dodgson retains belief, even though favours and victories are required to make Europe.
The 21- year- old full- back, on loan from Burnley, said: All the lads were gutted. The most important thing is to put in a positive performance on Saturday, I think it is vital for us.
“We are all frustrated and upset from the result last Saturday but we have to put it right this Saturday and make sure we get three points and put in a performance for the fans away from home. You can’t let that performance define our whole season’s performance.
“We got to the top six and we still have a chance of top five and we all have belief in ourselves, and I’m sure the fans have the belief that we can make that position our own.
“Not one person around here doesn’t believe that we have a chance. We all have positive heads. The most important thing is to remain positive.”