Kello is convinced Jefferies' new Jambos are dressed for success

FOR goalkeeper Marian Kello, Hearts' fortunes this season will be determined by confidence within the dressing room. Where once there were separate factions of native Brits and foreigners there is now widespread harmony helping to fuel a challenge to the Old Firm. Keeping the spirit is key to the club's success.

Kello knows the next ten days are pivotal to Hearts' aspirations of at least splitting Rangers and Celtic and claiming second place in the SPL. They may even go further, but it will all hinge on the players' mentality and maintaining the close bond developed this season.

"After some good results recently we need to prove ourselves in the next few games," said Kello, with Wednesday's game with Celtic at Parkhead following today's encounter with Rangers. "We need to show ourselves and the supporters whether we are competitive with the Old Firm or not. It's going to be a big question and hopefully we will do our best and get some results.

"I believe we can do it. But I believed we could achieve something in the Scottish Cup and we are out. I don't want to say yes, we are competitive. We are going to try to be competitive and the next games will show if we are or not.

"I hope this will be a special year. I have a good feeling with the team, we have some confidence but obviously these games with the Old Firm can decide everything. If we can get some results against them, we can still think about second place or even more. We will see next weeks or in a few weeks' time.

"We believe in ourselves and we have good confidence. I think everyone in the dressing room believes we are competitive with the Old Firm. We get on really well with each other in the dressing room. There are no problems between us, we are good friends."

Tuesday evening's inspired comeback at Kilmarnock restored much of the belief after an unexpected Scottish Cup loss to St Johnstone. Hearts entered this afternoon's game with Rangers only seven points adrift of SPL leaders Celtic. As they seek to gain ground on the Ibrox club, the departure of 21-goal Kenny Miller has been an unexpected bonus.

"We need to think about ourselves because we need victories. For us it is better if Kenny Miller goes, he has scored 21 goals and will be a big loss for Rangers. That can help us," agreed Kello, adding that the scoring feats of Kevin Kyle and Rudi Skacel are similarly vital to Hearts.

"Rudi and Kevin are both big players for us. With them on the pitch we feel more confident. They are always dangerous and our opponents know that. That's an advantage for us. I feel we have a strong team and we are good enough to be competitive. We just need to prove our performances on the pitch."Before the Kilmarnock match, we knew we had lost the last game 3-0 against them and we knew we lost against St Johnstone in the cup as well. We were going into the game with quite a lot of pressure because it was an important game. We took it seriously and we got a good result.

"In the first half on Tuesday it was not so good. The second half was fine. We need to keep playing like we did in the second half, not the first half.

"We need to have good ability and put 100 per cent into the games if we want good results."