Levein: We must not get carried away

PAUL KIDDIE

HEARTS boss Craig Levein today urged his players to concentrate on the basics in Sunday’s showdown with Rangers and not get carried away by their good start to the SPL campaign.

Despite losing to Hibs at Easter Road courtesy of an injury-time goal on the second week of the season, the Jambos have stormed into third place in the table after bouncing back with victories over Dundee United, Dunfermline and Kilmarnock.

With four clean sheets in five matches, the Gorgie outfit will go into Sunday’s Tynecastle clash with confidence high, but Levein has warned his men not to get carried away with what they have achieved at this early stage.

"The players have done well but it’s important they don’t get carried away with themselves," he said.

"The fact is we have managed a few results but haven’t yet played any of the teams currently in the top five."

That, of course, will change on Sunday and Levein insisted Rangers’ win over Bundesliga outfit Stuttgart in the Champions League at Ibrox on Tuesday underlines the task facing his side this weekend.

"It was a terrific result for Rangers during the week and great for Scottish football," he said. "It’s just a pity Celtic didn’t manage to beat Bayern Munich as well.

"But the Ibrox result shows just how difficult a task we will face on Sunday.

"This is going to be our toughest test of the season to date and it is vital we are completely focused.

"Statistics will show we haven’t done particularly well against Rangers recently and there is nothing to suggest that Sunday’s match will be anything other than difficult."

Defender Kevin McKenna and goalkeeper Craig Gordon have been suffering from the effects of colds this week but both should be fit for inclusion in Levein’s squad.

Jean-Louis Valois is continuing to train after his Achilles injury with no ill-effects, but will not be in contention to face the champions.

Taken from the Scotsman