Heart of Midlothian boss Neil Critchley hopes the backing of a passionate Tynecastle crowd can help his side continue their impressive unbeaten start to 2025 when Rangers visit in Sunday's Scottish Premiership clash.
The hosts are unbeaten in eight games, seven of which have come since the new year. They head into the fixture after a tense penalty shoot-out victory over St Mirren in the Scottish Cup on Monday night, securing their place in the quarter-finals.
Rangers triumphed narrow 1-0 winners versus Hearts at Ibrox in November. However, the Glasgow giants come to the capital following a surprising cup defeat to Championship side Queen's Park last weekend.
This unexpected fifth-round elimination has continued to make headlines nearly a week later. So, all eyes are on Rangers manager Philippe Clement to turn their fortunes around, and fast, especially since runaway league leaders Celtic could be a whopping 16-points ahead of them come kick-off.
But Critchley, focused on his team approaching the game with the correct mentality, is confident his Hearts side can rise to the occasion and inflict more woes on the Ibrox club.
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“We’re in good form," said the Hearts head coach, who succeeded Steven Naismith in October last year.
"We can go into the game with a positive feeling, knowing that we face good players, a good opponent, difficult challenge, but it’s a great game for us to look forward to.
“So hopefully we can use the energy of the crowd and feed off their passion and go and do everything we can to keep our unbeaten run going.
“We know we’re going to have to be good without the ball, because they’ve got very good technical players, intelligent players who know how to handle the ball, and they’re used to playing in big games, with big expectations, so they’re used to playing under this type of pressure.
“We have to be well-organised, good without the ball, but also, again, we want to try and take the game to the opponent.
“The game at Ibrox, after our indifferent first few minutes of the game, we grew into it and we really took the game to them, and we pushed them onto the back foot, particularly in the second half.
“I think we had over 50 per cent of the ball, which doesn’t happen often, particularly away from home against Rangers, so it shows that we’re capable of doing that.
“But that’s only come through our defensive organisation and how we approach the game. Our mentality has got to be right, and if it is, then I’m sure we’ll give a good account of ourselves.”
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Critchley is optimistic that key midfielder Cammy Devlin will be fit in time to feature against Rangers, despite the Australian international sustaining a head injury an hour into Hearts’ cup success in Paisley.
He has since been following concussion protocols. While the 26-year-old has yet to return to full training, he is expected to do so on Saturday if there are no setbacks.
Critchley acknowledged the importance of adhering to the necessary procedures but remains positive about Devlin’s progress.
"We have to follow [the protocol], so that's so far so good," he explained.
"There's a bit where you do a little bit on the bike and then you start to progress
"Then you start to come on to the pitch and do a bit of running, semi-opposed stuff and then opposed.
"He's coming through that and if he does carry on with no setbacks, then that means he will train tomorrow and be available.
"He's been a really important member of our team, integral to what we've been doing, so we're obviously hopeful that he makes it."
