Hearts manager Steven Naismith admits that his players will receive a boost when they walk out to a 50/50 supporter split at Hampden next month when they face Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

It was confirmed on Thursday lunchtime that the Jambos had won their fight to have parity with Rangers in terms of fan numbers after being awarded 21,000 tickets, unlike earlier in the season when the Ibrox outfit were given more briefs for their Viaplay Cup semi-final at the same venue. The match has been confirmed for Sunday, April 21 at 3pm, live on Viaplay, while the other last-four tie between Aberdeen and Celtic will be played on Saturday, April 20 at 12.30pm, live on Viaplay and BBC Scotland. The Dons lost their battle to have the same number of fans present as Celtic after being handed 19,000 seats.

Naismith believes that the right decision has been made. “It’s really good,” said the Jambos boss. “It’ll be a great atmosphere, a big occasion. Obviously the last semi final wasn’t that and I think it does have an impact. When you have two of the biggest clubs in the country in a semi-final of probably the biggest cup competition then you would expect it to be 50/50.

Steven Naismith is pleased Hearts will have an even split at Hampden when they take on Rangers.

“We’ve shown continuously all season that we carry a big support. The whole feeling around it helps. Seeing it’s 50/50 as soon as you run out, the noise levels and where your fans are situated – because each side of the pitch is better at Hampden than right behind the goal. So just the perception beforehand helps. But ultimately it will be what happens on the pitch.”

Hearts are 13 points clear in third place in the Premiership with nine matches to go and have reached the latter stages of both domestic cups this season. Naismith sees the supporter buy-in as a sign of progress. “Not every club could take the allocation,” he said. “That’s been a big thing for us this season. It’s taken time to get a real understanding from the supporters and us and what we’re trying to do. We are getting there and the appreciation shows. Even Monday night behind the goals at Cappielow ... I’ve been to a few games at Morton and it’s the first time I’ve seen that bit rammed. It shows we are in a good place, progressing and that we are a big club.”

Aberdeen reacted with disappointment over their allocation after their offer to return any unsold tickets was declined, with the PA news agency reporting that the Dons declined the deal Hearts accepted, to underwrite the cost of any unsold tickets.

A statement from Aberdeen read: “The club requested the opportunity to sell up to 50 per cent of the tickets, with any unsold tickets by an agreed date being allocated to our opponents. Disappointingly, this has once again been declined based primarily on historical ticket sales at this stage of the competition. As a result, the Aberdeen allocation for this match will be for up to 19,000 tickets, almost identical to the Viaplay Cup final in December, split between the South Stand and West Stand, depending on demand.”

Aberdeen quickly sold an initial 17,000 tickets for their Hampden clash with Rangers in the Viaplay Cup final inn December before problems emerged over a second batch of 2,500 tickets as fans complained over their loyalty points not being taken into account, while the club recalled tickets apparently sold to Light Blues fans. They sold about 13,000 tickets for the League Cup semi-finals in each of the past two seasons, figures which were taken into account during this process.

Hearts get major boost from Rangers semi-final development - 'just the perception beforehand helps'