Hearts must focus on task in hand against Rangers

Published on Tuesday 1 February 2011 11:44

DISTRACTIONS are plentiful for both Rangers and Hearts ahead of this evening's match at Ibrox. The Andy Webster affair, El Hadji Diouf, David Healy, Ian Black and Nikica Jelavic; it is easy to overlook the fact that a potentially pivotal SPL game is taking place.

For Hearts, the incentive is clear. Beating Rangers would elevate them to second place in the league table and further accentuate their status as possible title challengers. For all that Jim Jefferies strives to play such a notion down, his players' performances in recent months make their prospects undeniable.

The task for both Jefferies and his Rangers counterpart, Walter Smith, is to ensure their respective squads are not preoccupied by events surrounding this match. Both know there are many side issues but will recognise the stakes are high on the pitch. The hosts require victory to keep pace with Celtic in the SPL title race, while Hearts are seeking to perform the gargantuan task of usurping an Old Firm club and muscling in on an area of the league table which those in Glasgow believe is reserved strictly for them.

If the visitors are to succeed, Jefferies believes an infinitely better display than they produced against Rangers ten days ago at Tynecastle is vital - despite the fact they won that encounter 1-0 with a late goal from Ryan Stevenson.

"Rangers have got determination in every game. It doesn't matter who they are playing, their sights are firmly fixed on trying to win the title," he explained. "They need to use the advantage of these games in hand (over Celtic]. The fact we won last week will have hurt their pride. We'll go there and try to give a better performance, and if we win probably people - not us - will be saying we're genuine title contenders again, so it just shows what a difference a week can make. If we win it takes us above them and it means we're in there again, hanging on. We said it was great for Scottish football when we beat them, and it would have been great if we'd beaten Celtic but we didn't. We know in those two games both teams played extremely well against us - they said themselves they saw us a threat, which shows how much we've improved since I came into the job.

"We never said that we're going there for title things. We're having a good season and if it happens that they drop points and our run of success gets us close to them and makes it a little bit of a challenge, then that's great. That's a bonus for us.

"We're going there to win another game and try and keep in touch, but more importantly keep stressing that we want to finish in third place.

"We've built up a nice gap but we want it to get wider, and the only way you'll do that is trying to win your games."

Aside from his own attempts to convince Webster to rejoin Hearts following a controversial departure five years ago, Jefferies must contend with Rangers' new recruits. Northern Ireland internationalist David Healy has been loaned from Sunderland but it is the contentious capture of the Senegalese forward Diouf - pictured below playing against Hearts for Blackburn Rovers last August in a pre- season friendly - on loan which has prompted greatest debate.

His tendency to court controversy will make him a target for hostility in Glasgow, where Celtic fans still loathe him for a spitting incident during a UEFA Cup tie involving his former club Liverpool at Parkhead eight years ago.

"If he gets out of line he runs the risk of being punished by the referee like all the players on the pitch.

"Maybe he's been involved in some things but has learned his lesson," said Jefferies.

"It doesn't matter who Rangers play, they've got a lot of good players," continued Jefferies. "We'll have to concentrate on ourselves and be better than we were against Celtic. We had a great response on Saturday against St Johnstone, we told the players it was more or less a cup final. We were playing a stuffy side who had only lost once in their nine or ten visits, they were never going to be easy opponents. And the performance was excellent. I know it was only 1-0 but Derek (McInnes] admitted the game should have been out of sight by half-time.

"So that was a major game to bounce back from last Wednesday against Celtic, and it shows we've got the character to do it. So hopefully we've got the character to go to Glasgow and show that we're better than we were last week when we let ourselves and a lot of people down, not just with the result but the performance."

Diouf's fragile temperament may make him a target on the field in Scotland as much as off it, but Hearts midfielder Ian Black said he and his colleagues have more important matters at hand. "Can we wind him up? We could but I'm sure he would be mature enough to calm down and not get involved," said Black. "He's been in the papers recently for what he said to the boy from QPR (Jamie Mackie]. But we are not really interested in winding him up. It's all about how we go about playing at Ibrox that matters."

Black has his own issues to contend with and admitted he expects a hostile reception at Ibrox tonight. His tackle on Jelavic last October sidelined the Croatian for three months but he stressed today there was no malice involved.

"I never spoke to him before the game at Tynecastle recently. I'm sure he's alright. He's a good quality player and he's very mature and he has ability. I'm sure he won't let anything bother him. He will get on with his football, just like I will.

"I won't say anything at Ibrox. I'm sure he will read the papers (a past apology]. I'm just glad to see him back training and playing and enjoying it. The fans will be delighted he's back and it's good to see.

"Did I get a lot of stick after the incident? I did, yes, and I'm sure when I run out at Ibrox I will get a good reception from the crowd. But that's all part and parcel of football and I can deal with it. I've had a few people in the street passing by and saying stuff to me about the incident but you have to take that in football and not react. I'm quite happy to do my talking on the pitch.

"Do I regret making the tackle? No I don't regret it. There was no intention to go and hurt him. I tried to win the ball and obviously I caught him. But there was no malice. And if it had happened the other way about there would not be so much hype about it. It's because it's a Rangers player - that's always going to happen. I've been on the end of a few tackles myself, there was one in the Edinburgh derby recently (from Ian Murray] but you just take it and you get up and you get on with it. I'm still always going to get stuck in. That's the kind of player I am and if people want to brand me a 'dirty player' then they can do that."

Black must turn a blind eye to any antagonism tonight and, like his colleagues, has to ignore the sideshows if Hearts are to record a victory at a venue where they have not won in almost seven years.