Smith warns Hearts of Highlanders' intent

MARK BONTHRONE

ROSS COUNTY boss Alex Smith has warned Hearts to expect a tough 90 minutes at Victoria Park in Dingwall tonight, insisting his side are an SPL team in everything but name.

The Jambos travel to the Highlands for their penultimate pre-season game before the big kick-off on August 7 with Smith admitting the match will give him an indication as to how far his side have progressed during his time in charge.

The former Dundee United and Aberdeen manager has been impressed with what the Tynecastle side have achieved in recent years and knows the friendly against a team he rates as one of the top in the country will be a valuable learning experience for his players.

"Our No.1 aim this season is to try and win promotion because we feel the club is geared to playing at that level," he said.

"We are a very ambitious club and are looking to take the next step so need to be able to compete against the likes of Hearts.

"I don’t think there is very much between us and the teams at the bottom end of the Premier League but with Hearts you are talking about a team that has finished third and qualified for Europe over the past couple of years.

"They have a young management team in Craig Levein and Peter Houston who have done really well without ever having a lot of money to spend.

"Playing against them will give us a great gauge as to how far we have come and how far we might still need to go and it will give some of the younger guys a great challenge."

Smith has brought in a host of new players over the summer months with one in particular being well known to the Hearts support.

Gary McSwegan, who was frozen out by Gorgie boss Levein before moving to Kilmarnock, turned his back on a move to Livingston to sign for the Highland side and Smith believes his capture is a mark of the ambition the club has.

"Gary is a player who has scored goals at every level he has played at and we are delighted he chose to come here," he said.

"He has a lot of big game experience and I don’t think guys like him would come here if they didn’t think we could win promotion.

"We also brought in Sean Kilgannon who played something like 20 games for Dunfermline last season and have also got Alex Burke, the former Killie winger, from Queen of the South.

"Between them they all have a lot of experience and should help us in the First Division which I believe is probably the most competitive league in Britain.

"The reward for getting out of it is to play against teams like Hearts who have a lot of good players and tonight’s game should give our players a taste of that.

"The fans here also deserve to be watching a team playing in the Premier League as we had the highest average home gate in the First Division last season.

"We were getting crowds of around 3500 and if we were to get promoted I think we could easily be getting five or six thousand."

Like Hearts, County have enjoyed a series of good results over the pre-season, their only loss coming when an XI comprised mainly of youngsters were beaten by Highland League Huntly.

The Jambos have yet to taste defeat and Smith believes that both teams’ attacking nature will ensure an exciting clash for the fans.

"We like to get forward and most of the players that we have brought in are attack minded so we hope to offer a real threat this season.

"Hearts also have a huge threat in front of goal in the boy De Vries and they have other players who can easily hurt teams.

"I know pre-season games can sometimes not be the most entertaining of affairs but with the season getting close and the way both teams like to play I’m sure that both sets of fans will get plenty to shout about."

Taken from the Scotsman