Naismith hoping it will be fifth time lucky for Hearts against Rangers
STEVEN NAISMITH has learned plenty of lessons during his time as head coach of Hearts, but today’s encounter with Rangers in Mount Florida will be his biggest test yet – and an opportunity to show just how far the team have come.
Philippe Clement’s side are the only domestic opponent that Naismith has failed to beat during his year-long stint in the Tynecastle hot-seat. The Ibrox club have won each and every one of the four meetings between the two teams this season – including a 3-1 win in their Viaplay Cup semi-final in November – while their most recent encounter ended in a sobering 5-0 defeat for Hearts in Govan last month.
Rangers may well have been Hearts’ bogey team so far this term, but there is no better time to face them. A midweek draw at Dens Park, defeat in the Highlands and dropped points in the Old Firm derby have left the Glasgow club’s title aspirations dangling by a thread, while Dujon Sterling’s candid admission that the team don’t truly believe they can win the league was a startling indicator of the mentality in the Rangers dressing room at present.
Remarkably, Hearts have never defeated Rangers at Hampden – but Naismith is confident that his side will have learned lessons from this season’s losses and that they will right those wrongs at the national stadium this afternoon. Despite the final results, he has seen enough to suggest that they have what it takes to come out on top.
“I think in stages of the games [against Rangers] we have been good,” the former Scotland internationalist explained. “What we have worked on and what we have tried to do has been good.
“We have probably gone through every feeling in those games. The one where we got beat early in the season at Ibrox [Hearts led 1-0 until two late goals secured a 2-1 win for the hosts at Ibrox] was a really good performance. Small moments cost you big time. It was a reality check and a blow because you put so much into the game. The other ones that come to mind are the semi-final, where we had that wee bit of being unsure or not playing with freedom when we had the ball, so we never caused them as many problems as we should have or as we did in the game at Ibrox.
“The 5-0 was just horrendous defending from us. The game was done because we conceded poor goals. Rangers didn’t do anything which made us go, ‘woah, we really need to watch against that’. A ball into the box from 30 yards and we didn’t defend it. Another ball into the box we didn’t defend. Poor decision making at times cost us. I think we have gone through most emotions in the games against Rangers.”
There is one emotion in particular that has been absent, however: triumph. Hearts couldn’t have come much closer to claiming a rare victory in Glasgow’s south side than the 2-1 defeat back in October. Beni Baningime, playing at No.6, was a standout for Hearts that day – but in the matches since, the former Everton man has struggled to exert as much influence. It is another tactical problem presented by Rangers, but Naismith believes he has the solution.
“Our No.6 [Baningime] got a lot of joy in that game and since that game Rangers have made sure somebody is on our No.6 and stopped us building that way,” Naismith said. “So you need to build in different ways. But in terms of being comfortable having the ball at times, saying we’re not just going to force it forward and kick it forward. Recognising when there is space to play into, those parts of that game were good.
“There were long spells of that game, especially in the first half, where we had the ball and Rangers were chasing it. Against the best teams in the league you need to do well and be disciplined out of possession. If you are going to just give them the ball back after 10 seconds every time you get it, it’s going to be a long afternoon and you are just asking for trouble.”