McLeish aiming to finish on a positive note

Anything less than victory will hand that prize to Heart of Midlothian. The Tynecastle side could be ushered into Europe’s elite by their fiercest rivals because if Hibernian even draw tonight, then Hearts are assured of second place, even if they lost against Aberdeen in the final game on Sunday at Ibrox, because of the their superior goal difference.

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That prospect may stick in the throats of Hibernian supporters but with fourth place to fight for, they are unlikely to assist McLeish in the dying embers of his reign. The penultimate match, in the wake of Hearts’ crucial 3-0 victory over Celtic on Sunday, may be the most painful.

Four points adrift of even second place is a unfamiliar territory for most Rangers managers. So too, is the knowledge that Hibernian have beaten Rangers on three occasions this season, including a defeat in the Scottish Cup.

“I’m concentrating on my last two games as Rangers manager and hopefully we can win those last two games,” McLeish said. “If it means we’re second then I will be delighted with that. We’re not in the driving seat, we know that. Hearts need to drop points and we have to win. That’s what we must concentrate on doing at Easter Road.

“I’d like to make sure that we do our own job first but, certainly, Aberdeen are the form team just now. I know they are on a high and their confidence is terrific. They have provided a good challenge to Hearts, and I’m sure they will again, but it means nothing if we don’t win.”

McLeish admits he has been impressed by how well Hearts have handled the pressure over recent weeks but insists the race for second place is not over yet. “Credit to Hearts, they’ve done well,” he said. “They’ve responded to the pressure we put on them with Saturday’s result so they deserve praise for that. But there is still a bit to be done yet.

“We were 16 points behind and it’s tough when you’re chasing, especially with a deficit like that. We deserve a lot of praise. In the second half of the season we’ve had most of the first choice players available; in the first half of the season that wasn’t the case. That accounts for the reasons why we did have to chase. Our form in the second part of the season has been excellent and, if we’d shown the same consistency in the first half, we would be vying for the championship just now, I’m sure of that.”

For Ian Murray, the evening will also provide a return to Easter Road but it is unlikely to offer a warm welcome. The Rangers midfield player left Hibernian last summer to rejoin McLeish and the club’s supporters have never forgiven their former captain.

Murray knows that Hibernian actually require Rangers to finish in second place to aid their own hopes of reaching the Uefa Cup but insists there is no way his old team will throw this game even if it costs them a place in Europe.

“I don’t think anybody can go out on the park to intentionally lose,” Murray said. “It’s not as though someone is going to score four own goals or give away penalties so it’s unacceptable that people think Hibernian are going to intentionally throw a game of football. They have their own pride to play for and Hibernian fans won’t let their team deliberately short-change anybody. They’ve paid their money to watch Hibernian.”

Tony Mowbray believes his Hibernian side could have been challenging for the top three this season if they had stayed clear of injuries. Mowbray’s squad has been decimated by injuries to key players since the turn of the year — losing the likes of Scott Brown, Guillaume Beuzelin and Michael Stewart for long spells — while Garry O’Connor, the Scotland striker, also departed for Lokomotiv Moscow in March in a £1.6 million move.

“Up until just after the New Year we were ahead of even two points a game,” the manager said. “If we’d continued for the whole season it would have taken us to 70-odd points and finished us pretty high up the table. We were going well but have been slightly derailed by players not being available to the team. We’ve had a bit of bad fortune that we’re probably missing four starting players from midfield.

“When my players are all available we can compete with anyone in the league, but the team will keep improving, I’ve no fears about that.”

Victory for Mowbray’s team tonight would seal second place for Hearts and end Hibernian’s’ hopes of a Uefa place but he insists his side will not lie down to aid their European cause. “We’ll have no focus other than trying to win the game,” he said. “If we can achieve two more wins (against Rangers and away at Kilmarnock) I’m sure we’ll all be pretty satisfied with the season — there have been lots of positives and it’s important we don’t forget that.”

Mowbray, meanwhile, has handed promising Jay Shields, the right back, a new one-year deal. The 21-year-old was moving out of contract in the summer but has taken advantage of the club’s injury crisis to impress.

Taken from the Scotsman