Rob aims to sign, seal and deliver Ibrox win

MARK BONTHRONE

ROBBIE NEILSON plans to celebrate clinching a new two-year deal with Hearts by helping the club to their first win over Rangers in Glasgow for more than eight years.

The 23-year-old full-back has been in talks with the club for more than a month over extending his stay in Gorgie and expects to put pen to paper on the new contract within days.

The news marks a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Neilson, who just last season had looked to be on his way out of the club after being farmed out to Queen of the South on loan for six months.

And he admits he would love to mark prolonging his seven-year spell in the Capital by helping the club to their first win in Govan since January 1996 when an Allan Johnston hat-trick gave the Jambos a shock 3-0 victory.

"We’ve done all right against the Old Firm the last few times we have played them but we’ve still not won and that’s what we are looking to do this time," he said.

"It’s a long time since we have won in Glasgow and we need to try and change that.

"We have to build on those draws recently and try to turn them into victories, particularly when we are matching them over the 90 minutes.

"We need to be able to go to Glasgow and win games as that is what you are judged on. Hopefully tonight we will be able to do that and leave with the three points."

Visits to Celtic Park and Ibrox can be intimidating affairs with the majority of the crowd backing the hosts but far from feeling a sense of trepidation at the thought Neilson insists he positively relishes it.

"Ibrox is a really good place to play as it’s one of the top stadiums in Scotland, if not Britain.

"I really enjoy going there and testing myself and hopefully it will be a decent surface so we can get the ball down and try to play football.

"I know it’s near the end of the season but there’s no way we will be going there and relaxing just because we’ve tied up third spot as you always want to win games like this.

"We want to get as many points as we can between ourselves and Dunfermline. We also want to close the gap on Rangers. We know we can’t catch them but the closer we get to them the better.

"We played well against them in the last game and were quite disappointed not to have won [the teams drew 1-1 at Tynecastle]. It is of course different going through there and it’s harder but we can take confidence from that result and the way that we played against them.

"They are obviously going to strengthen their squad over the summer and have made some signings already so this is probably as good a time as any to get them.

"We have to beat them sometime and the way we have been playing recently why can’t it be tonight? We know it will be hard but it can be done and we will go there believing we can win the game." Victory for Hearts would cap what has already been a season to remember for Neilson.

After his spell at Queen of the South last term where he gained some much needed first-team experience, he has been a key figure in boss Craig Levein’s plans.

He was man of the match in the Jambos’ historic UEFA Cup triumph over Bordeaux in the south of France back in November and has rarely looked back since establishing himself at right back after Alan Maybury was switched to the left.

And Neilson, who has been at Tynecastle since he was 16, admits he was delighted to be given the opportunity of extending his stay at Hearts.

"It’s just a case of actually signing the contract now as everything has been agreed," he said. "Hopefully that will happen at the end of this week or the start of next.

"It’s a two-year deal that I’ve been offered and given the way football is at the moment I’m delighted with that. The way that the finances are at the moment nobody is guaranteed to be offered a deal and this gives me a bit of security.

I have been pretty pleased with the way I’ve played this season but there is always room for improvement no matter how well you are playing.

"I’ve played the majority of the games this season and feel that I’ve done well enough.

"To play in Europe was great and finishing third was another achievement. Hopefully now we can win our last couple of games to finish on as many points as we can and end the season on a high."

Taken from the Scotsman