Hearts stalwart Neilson ready for Christmas cracker

ANTHONY BROWN
WITH talk of financial turmoil rearing its ugly head at a time when Hearts are riding the cusp of a wave on the pitch, the club's avid followers have spent the past couple of weeks fretting over whether to laugh or cry. Robbie Neilson has had no such dilemma to wrestle with.
The long-serving right-back has remained firmly ensconced in the upbeat camp, basking in the glory of a magnificent five-game winning streak, while giving little consideration to reports of off-field meltdown. Neilson will bound out of bed with all t he exuberance of a kid on Christmas morning tomorrow as he readies himself for one of his favourite away-days of the season.

While some SPL players may recoil in fear at the thought of a trip to face Celtic at Parkhead, Neilson becomes a bundle of excitement. And it's not because of any tiresome boyhood affiliation with the Hoops. It's simply that he feels liberated when granted the opportunity to play on the vast Parkhead pitch, an expanse of grass which, with the exception of a couple of hairy afternoons on league duty last season, has generally been the platform for some of Hearts' finest away performances over the past five years or so.

While it would be stretching a point to suggest Celtic Park has become a happy-hunting ground for Hearts, it's hard to argue with Neilson's assertion that the men from the Capital have generally made a decent fist of it on recent visits to the towering 60,000-seat arena in Glasgow's east end. With three victories – 2-0 in April 2005, 3-1 in April 2007 and a 2-0 League Cup triumph just over a year ago – as well as a couple of draws to their name, no other team – not even Rangers – has been as successful as Hearts at Parkhead over the past five years.

Another victory would have been added to that tally had they not tossed away a 1-0 lead in the last four minutes to end up losing 2-1 during Eduard Malofeev's infamous reign as manager a little over two years ago. Easy to see then why Neilson is champing at the bit to square up to the league leaders on their own patch. The prospect of racking a sixth straight victory merely heightens the in-form 28-year-old's enthusiasm for the task.

"I'm really looking forward to going through there," said Neilson. "Parkhead's always a good place to go and play and we usually do quite well through there. I always feel confident we'll at least produce a good display when we play there. A number of times we've gone through there and played really well and not come away with a result, but we've also had a few good wins there in the last few years.

"We won there in the League Cup just last season, so that certainly helps us confidence-wise. It's a nice big pitch which will give us a chance to pass the ball about. We've got a lot of good players who like to get the ball down so it certainly suits us. We're quietly confident that we can come away with a result."

Hearts will arrive in Glasgow desperate to blow away the cobwebs after having their imperious run of form rudely interrupted by the untimely postponement of their match with Motherwell at Fir Park last Saturday.

"We were really disappointed it was off," Neilson continued. "Having won five games on the bounce we'd have been confident of picking up another three points but it wasn't to be.

"We were at Riccarton having our pre-match meal when the manager told us it was off about midday.

"It was really disappointing because we were all prepared for the game and we just wanted to get through there and play. We did a bit training instead, but at least it gave us a bit extra time to prepare for the Celtic game.

"We're desperate to get back out on the pitch to try and keep our run going."

While the intervening period since Hearts' last outing – that memorable victory over Rangers a fortnight ago – has been littered with negative publicity over off-field matters, Neilson insists the confidence the players gained during their flawless five-game run remains undiminished. As a result, Csaba Laszlo's men will take to the field in the belief that Celtic, the last team to beat them, will become the latest addition to their list of victims.

"The more games you win, the more confident you get," Neilson said. "We are going into a game on the back of five wins on the bounce so it's only natural that we are full of belief. The whole place has been lifted by this run we're on.

"We are going into games feeling that we are going to win them. It's a bit like the feeling we had under George Burley where we felt unbeatable. We're not losing a lot of goals and when we're getting chances, we're generally taking them.

"That's really important because we know that if we go ahead we are more than capable of holding a lead, and if we go a goal behind – as we have done a few times this season – we know we have it in us to fight back.

"This winning run will come to an end eventually but I don't see any reason why we can't sustain it for a while longer.

"There's a real hunger to keep it alive and competition for places is also driving us on because there are a lot of good players not getting a game just now."

Due to the sheer unexpectedness of their recent spurt in form, onlookers are having trouble discerning a realistic target for this Hearts team. Top six, third place and even second place have all been put forward, but even Neilson admits he doesn't yet know how high he and his rampant team-mates ought to be aiming. Tomorrow's showdown is likely to offer some clues.

"I don't know how far we can go," he said. "Hopefully we can mount a challenge for second place. The Celtic game will give us an indication of where we are and where we are heading. We beat Rangers, which is all well and good, but it's about winning week in, week out if you are to mount any kind of challenge to the Old Firm. If we can beat Celtic it would work out well for us either way because Dundee United are playing Rangers, so at least one of our main rivals is going to drop points. At the moment, we've just got to concentrate on making sure we keep winning and see where it takes us."

On a personal note, Neilson has been thrilled at how quickly he has re-established himself in the starting line-up. The Paisley-born defender ended a six-month injury-enforced lay-off when he stepped off the bench in last month's 1-0 win over St Mirren, the match which sparked this winning sequence. He hasn't looked back since.

"It's been a smooth return for me and everything has gone much better than I could have imagined," he admitted. "I've got myself back in the team, we've won every game since I returned and I'm feeling fitter by the week, so it's been really good. My return seems to have coincided with the team getting used to the formation and the training methods implemented by the manager. It's not me winning games. It's down to the team and the manager that we're doing so well, not any individuals."

Things are going swimmingly on the park for Neilson and his team-mates at present. As the banter flew around Riccarton while he spoke to the Evening News, it became apparent that this dogged group of players are in no mood to let matters outwith their control wreck their best run of form in over three years.

Taken from the Scotsman