Hearts boss Robbie Neilson eyes Dumbarton revenge

With Hearts 13 points clear Neilson has turned his attention to the trip to Dumbarton. Picture: SNS

After dropping their first points of the campaign in September’s goal-less draw at Dumbarton, the Tynecastle side are aiming to move one step closer to achieving that aim when they return to the Bet Butler stadium on Saturday.

Easter Road is the only other venue where Hearts have failed to collect all the spoils. Neilson’s side needed a last-gasp 40-yard Alim Ozturk strike to keep their unbeaten record intact in October’s 1-1 draw against Hibs.

Hearts are 13 points clear at the summit after battling to another draw with their city counterparts at the weekend but Neilson has now turned his attention to the trip to Dumbarton.

He said: “Dumbarton is the first place we dropped points at this season and we want to make sure we go down there and right that wrong. “We want to pick up three points at every venue we play at this season and it’s a chance for us to move towards that on Saturday.” Neilson will have defender Alim Ozturk available for the Sons outing but the Dutch-born Turk will miss the 24 January visit of Falkirk through suspension after collecting his sixth booking of the season on Saturday.

With the ban coming into effect then, Ozturk will be available for next Friday’s trip to Rangers after that match was brought forward for television purposes.

Hearts, meanwhile, have had their allocation for the 16 January Ibrox clash more than doubled after securing over 2,000 tickets for the top-of-the-table encounter.

An initial batch of 950 will go on sale to fans with 135 or more loyalty points this morning. Hearts recently took over 7,000 supporters to Livingston and Rangers, whose crowds have fallen away dramatically this season and will welcome the additional cash boost, were able to meet their request for more tickets.

A Hearts spokesperson said: “Following very helpful discussions with Rangers the club can reveal it will have a total of just over 2,000 tickets to sell to Hearts supporters.”