Robbie well aware of threat old boys pose

Mark Bonthrone

ROBBIE NEILSON today warned his team-mates that Kilmarnock’s former Hearts stars will be gunning for revenge over the Gorgie club when they travel to Rugby Park tomorrow afternoon.

The Jambos hold the upper-hand in recent meetings between the teams, beating them twice already this season when they clashed in the league and CIS Cup.

It’s more than 18 months since the Ayrshire outfit recorded a victory over Hearts when former Jambo Gary McSwegan scored to claim the bragging rights in May of last year.

However, despite losing out twice already this term, Killie have enjoyed a decent start to the campaign and sit just three points adrift of their third place opponents with the a couple of defeats at Tynecastle being the two most notable blips of their season so far.

McSwegan, of course, now plies his trade outside the SPL with Ross County, but former Hearts management duo Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown are in charge at Rugby Park with a number of stars in their line-up who once starred in Gorgie, so Neilson knows they will be out to make amends for Killie’s slip-ups tomorrow.

And he has warned that his side will have to match the passion which these players, in particular, are sure to play with if they are to consolidate their position in the league.

"There are a lot of Hearts connections in the Killie side and knowing them they will be desperate to put one over on us," Neilson said.

"These games always have a wee added edge as nobody wants to lose when you are playing against so many of your former team-mates. There’s Gary Locke, Gary Wales and Allan Johnston all on the books there and even the management team of Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown used to be at Hearts.

"It’s up to us to make sure we match their desire because if we don’t we could end up coming unstuck."

Kilmarnock showed last week they can be a match for anyone in the SPL as they narrowly lost out 2-1 at Celtic Park in a game which the Rugby Parkers felt aggrieved that some key decisions by whistler Steve Conroy went against them.

And Neilson believes a sense of injustice at coming away from Glasgow empty-handed will further fuel their desire to claim maximum points this weekend.

He said: "Against Celtic they showed that on their day they can compete with anyone and had it not been for a couple of refereeing decisions that went against them who knows what the result may have been.

"They will be disappointed not to have taken something from the tie and we need to watch out for the backlash."

While Kilmarnock go into the match looking to bounce back from that defeat, the Tynecastle team should be in high spirits after climbing back up the SPL and booking a place in the semi-finals of the CIS Cup within the last few days.

Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over Dunfermline means Hearts now have a one-off match at Hampden to look forward to in February and Neilson revealed that, coupled with the arrival of new manager John Robertson, there is a real buzz about the dressing-room at the moment.

"The win against Dunfermline was a really good result for us," admitted the defender. "It was the first time the lads had won on the plastic pitch which breaks a bit of a hoodoo and we can take a lot of confidence from getting to the semi-finals of a cup.

"It’s been a while since we have got this far in the cup so it has given both the supporters and players a real lift.

"Coupled with the Aberdeen result last weekend it’s been a good few days for the club and we are all keen to keep that going against Kilmarnock.

"They are going well at the moment and are only a few points behind so with home advantage I’m sure they will be looking to collect all three points and close that gap. I know some people have suggested we have had a slow start to the season but that’s only because we have done so well in past seasons and they expected us to pull away early on.

"But we’ve had big cup games and matches in Europe so there have been good reasons why we haven’t been able to do that so far. Yet we are still up there challenging despite all our midweek games so I think the players deserve a lot of credit.

"A win tomorrow afternoon could see us go clear in third place on our own and I think if you had asked most fans if they would have settled for being third in the league, in the semi-finals of a cup and still in Europe near the end of November they would have bitten your hand off."

Taken from the Scotsman