High time Hearts gave Gers the Blues

HAVING played almost all his football at either end of the M8, Dave McPherson knows the effect running out of the Ibrox tunnel in front of 50,000 supporters can have. However, he insists that this weekend's trip to Glasgow should hold no fears for Hearts.

The Tynecastle side have won just twice at Ibrox in the last ten seasons but McPherson sees no reason why they can't add to that tally this weekend.

Their last win over the Govan side on their own patch was back in 2004, the only goal of the game a late strike from Joe Hamill, who is now on the books at Livingston under John Robertson.

However, having taken three points from a possible six against them at Tynecastle last season and pipping them for a place in the Champions League qualifiers in the process, Hearts will travel to Glasgow full of confidence.

McPherson, pictured below, said: "Hearts will be disappointed with the draw against Falkirk last weekend and it's all about how they react to that result.

"The crucial thing for me now, though, is that they have absolutely no fear about going to places like Ibrox or Parkhead now.

"They have proved that they are capable of beating both teams and they will be looking to get a good result on Saturday.

"Last week was a bad result and things like that can sometimes have an effect but Rangers haven't had the best of starts to their campaign either.

"Hearts have already beaten Celtic this season and I think that shows that they can be back up there challenging again this season. Hearts have got a lot of exciting players in their side and they have strengthened by bringing in a couple of new faces as well. I'm sure they will go there confident that they can take something from the game."

Saturday's match will be a completely different affair from Hearts' last trip to Ibrox, which ended in a 2-0 defeat for the visitors.

The result, though, was of little concern to most of the Jambos sitting in the stand that day who spent the entire 90 minutes waving newspapers in the opposition supporters' faces as they sat back and relaxed throughout a game which meant nothing as they had already clinched their spot in the Champions League qualifiers.

McPherson knows better than most the type of welcome Valdas Ivanauskas' side will receive when they run out of the Ibrox tunnel and into a cauldron of noise.

However, he feels the Tynecastle squad now have enough experience in their ranks to take the thunderous reception in their stride. He added: "The players have been through an awful lot together when you look at the number of changes there were last season, but they have stuck together and players like Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley and Robbie Neilson know what it's all about.

"It's a fantastic stadium at Ibrox and a fantastic atmosphere and Hearts just have to hope that their foreign players can handle that.

"The key thing is that if things are not going Rangers' way then the crowd will start to get on their backs.

"If you can keep them quiet for the first half hour or so then you're doing well and that can have an effect on them.

"I don't think Hearts will go to Ibrox and sit back hoping for a draw, they will try to score goals."

If they are to find the back of the net, McPherson has no doubts over who he thinks will make the breakthrough.

The former Tynecastle defender admits that Hearts' attacking threat has been somewhat blunted by the departure of Czech Rudi Skacel and by the absence of Paul Hartley - who again looks likely to miss Saturday's clash - but has been impressed by the contribution of Roman Bednar over the past 12 months and believes he is capable of repeating his feat of scoring against the Ibrox side in their opening clash of last season.

"Roman caused a lot of problems for Rangers in the first meeting between the teams last season, when Hearts won 1-0 at Tynecastle," said McPherson. "He scored the only goal that day and created a lot of chances with his movement on and off the ball so I think Rangers will be keeping an eye out for him. He'll be full of confidence because of his call-up to the Czech squad and will be desperate to prove that he has got what it takes.

"For me, the main problem for Hearts is that they don't have the real dangermen of last season, Rudi Skacel and Paul Hartley, to rely on. They scored an awful lot of goals between them but with Rudi moving on and Paul probably ruled out by his injury, they might struggle to score but Bednar remains a big threat for me."

Another man who is capable of turning a game in Hearts' favour is midfield engine Hartley, although the most the player is likely to see of Ibrox will be from the bench - if at all. He is still recovering from the groin injury that kept him out of the Tynecastle side's pre-season training and, although he played 45 minutes of a closed-doors match against Gretna on Tuesday afternoon, is unlikely to feature this weekend.

McPherson knows that going to Ibrox without Hartley is a huge blow but says that it is important the midfielder is allowed sufficient time to recover fully: "People have been talking about Paul Hartley playing in the match and I've no doubt that he will be desperate to be involved but he's only had 45 minutes. The thing that everyone has to keep in mind is that it is more important to have Paul fit and available for as much of the season as possible, you need him to be around for the long-haul. If you rush him back you might aggravate the injury and rule him out for even longer.

"You've got to balance the situation and decide if it is worth risking playing him in this one."

McPherson believes that the two sides are of such similar quality that it makes the result almost impossible to call and refused to predict the outcome, apart from the fact that a mouthwatering clash is on the cards: "This is probably one of the most difficult games to predict.

"At this stage, teams are still bedding in and getting that little bit of match sharpness back so you can never really tell how it is going to go. There was a bit of pressure on Hearts because of the fantastic start that they had to last season but I don't think they were ever going to recreate that.

"I think that the game will be tight and it will also be a very tight season, we've already seen all of the top sides dropping points.

"I think the title itself will come down to who makes the better signings between now and the end of the transfer window at the end of this month."

Taken from the Scotsman