Kilmarnock win shows how vital Craig Levein’s Big Three are to Hearts

Craig Levein called Hearts’ 2-1 victory at Kilmarnock on Friday night a “statement of intent.” Really, though, it was a statement of the intensity levels that Craig Levein’s men can achieve when able to count on the services of the 32-year-old on-loan Norwich City attacker Steven Naismith and integral Tynecastle performers Christophe Berra and John Souttar.

Steven Naismith is hoping for a return to the Scotland squad. Picture: SNS.

Incredibly, Hearts have never lost this season when they have had this Scottish triangle in their ranks. Naismith has been central to the peaks and troughs experienced by the Gorgie club. Hearts remained utterly resolute as a Kilmarnock side chasing a sixth straight home win pushed for an equaliser incessantly in the second half after what proved the decisive strike supplied Naismith with a 15th goal of the season. Hearts were top of the table when he succumbed to a knee problem in late October.

Then they dropped to fifth in his absence, courtesy of posting only one win in the eight games he missed. Now they are on a run of five wins from six games, Naismith chipping in with crucial goals in two of those victories. That form, described by Levein as his team getting their “mojo back”, is allowing Hearts to look up. Rangers in second are now only six in front of them.

“We spoke about this before the game,” he said. “We said no matter what, if we took three points on Friday it was a statement of intent.

“We weren’t going to be that team who plays, wins well and doesn’t the next. It was not pretty, it was not enjoyable. The main thing was the result and if you watch a lot of the games at Rugby Park, you don’t just play a hard team, you play the pitch.

“Effectively it was a six-pointer and we won and closed the gap. The next games we need to keep winning. All the teams at the top will start playing each other and then you get into that last bit just before the split and that’s when you can really look at your expectations and see what you are going to do.

“It has helped that there are boys coming back from injury and the younger guys, the prospects who were floating about the fringes, are now saying ‘I want a slice of the action’. They have stepped up. Jack Mulraney, Callumn Morrison and Sean Clare, these guys are staking a claim and that’s all you can ask for as a manager.”

While Livingston at home on Wednesday will be too early for the return of Uche Ikpeazu, Levein expects to have both the bustling striker and playmaker Peter Haring at his disposal within the fortnight. Naismith, who hopes his form can allow him to return to the Scotland set-up for next month’s Euro 2020 qualifying games against Kazakhstan and San Marino and earn the cap he needs to reach 50, is taking nothing for granted about the possibility of a fully fit Tynecastle squad.

“It doesn’t last long,” he said ruefully. “The physios think, ‘oh brilliant, we are getting the treatment room clear’ but there is always something. But, on the whole, it is good.

“It just goes back to competition for places. At the start of the season we had a core of 14 genuine players who would start and other guys who would get fed in slowly but now there are 17 or 18 players who want to play and expect to be starting.”