Whittaker aims to noise-up good pal

D Stevenunfermline defender Steven Whittaker claims Hearts attacker Naismith is so vocal during games he would be as well swapping shirts with referees.

But Whittaker insists the Pars will be doing all they can to keep his close pal and the rest of their Hearts hosts as quiet as possible at Tynecastle this afternoon.

The duo roomed together during their time with Rangers and Scotland and were also team-mates south of the border at Norwich City.

They remain firm friends and regularly turn to each other for advice as they both approach the ends of successful careers.

But they will find themselves in direct competition today, just as they did when Dunfermline beat title favourites Hearts at East End Park back in November.

And Whittaker is adamant there will be no quarter asked or given yet again.

He said: “Naisy is one of my best friends in football. He was my room-mate at Rangers and my roommate at Scotland, and we get on very well.

“He is someone, if there’s anything going on, I know I can pick up the phone to him, and likewise the other way.

“There is no hassle, we both know that we are competitors on the pitch. We get on with our job in the roles that we are trying to achieve.

“For 90 minutes it is forgotten about and we move on. He will have his aims for Hearts and I have my aims for Dunfermline this season. We will just get on with the task in hand.

“He likes a bit of backchat on the pitch but I just try and ignore that. You may as well give him the referee’s shirt because he likes to have his say!

“But it just shows you the competitiveness in him. He has always had that, hence why he has gone on to have the career that he has had.”

The top-of-the-table clash sees Dunfermline head over the Forth having been beaten just once, at home to Morton, all season.

But thanks to a frustrating six draws – five in their last seven league outings – they find themselves nine points adrift of the league leaders, albeit with a game in hand.

A repeat of November’s victory at home would haul the Pars right back into a title race but Whittaker admits, on this occasion, a solitary point may not be too bad a result.

He added: “With the first game against Hearts being on telly, everyone gave a good account of themselves that evening. Another performance like that would put us in a good place to try and get something from the game.

“We are going to have to reach those levels again because we all know that Hearts are a good side, they have good ability throughout their team so we will need to be on our A game.

“We are going to play Hearts three times, so there are nine points available against Hearts and we have taken three out of three so far.

“If we can get a draw there and then when back at home in the third round of fixtures we can try to take more points off them than they take off us.”

Steven Whittaker.