Naismith warns Hearts Rangers out for revenge

The Edinburgh club travel to Ibrox just 11 days after beating Walter Smith's side 1-0 at Tynecastle, knowing another win would see them leapfrog Rangers into second spot. Naismith insists the defeat on January 22 – courtesy of Ryan Stevenson's 77th-minute winner – still hurts and believes the SPL champions have a score to settle this evening.

The Scotland internationalist said: "The games are coming thick and fast for us right now. Obviously, we got a defeat from Hearts when we played them at Tynecastle so this is something of a revenge mission for us.

"We know that it will be another very tough game for us but every single game that we play these days is going to be a difficult one.

"We have got a couple of games in hand but if we win those we can go back top of the league and that is what we have got to strive for."

Naismith worked under the current Tynecastle management team when he was a player with Kilmarnock between 2003 and 2007 and says Hearts are reaping the rewards as Jim Jefferies, Billy Brown and Gary Locke make their mark on the club. "The biggest change in Hearts, for me, has been Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown coming in as their management team," he said. "I have worked under them at Kilmarnock and the one thing they do is give you a lot of confidence and instil a real will to win.

"They have got that kind of mentality and try to give it to all of their players. I think that it has really shown through since they went to Tynecastle.

"We know it will be a tough game but hopefully we can come through it with a win and all three points in the bag."

Hearts held contract talks with Andy Webster yesterday folowing his release from Rangers, with Jefferies confident majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov is willing to forgive the defender for walking out on the club five years ago.

"When I mentioned his name to the owner he sounded a little bit surprised but it didn't take him long to say that if that was a possibility he could make that happen if he was available," said Jefferies. "Or maybe more that we would throw our hats into the ring because we knew there would be a lot of interest in him."

Asked if he believed Webster would be willing to rejoin Hearts following his acrimonious departure, Jefferies replied: "I don't think he would have set up a meeting if he wasn't. He knows all about the club and he knows we've been going fairly well.

"Charlie (Duddy, Webster's agent) said there was a lot of interest from Scotland and England and it will be up to Andy whether it will be about finances or for his playing and the football side of things."

Amongst those also interested in the defender are Dundee United and Aberdeen, plus Hearts' Edinburgh rivals Hibernian.

"That's an interesting one," said the Easter Road manager Colin Calderwood when asked about Webster. "Anyone who is out of contract, that's the next stage. You become quickly aware of anyone who has terminated their contract. We're going through that list at the minute and there's always the chance of offering people out of contract the chance to come. We've got a game on Thursday where we'll give one or two that opportunity."