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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Robbie Hanratty

Hearts manager wary of Rangers response after shock Scottish Cup elimination

Heart of Midlothian will be looking to emulate Queen's Park's heroics by defeating Rangers when they go head-to-head this weekend. 

Rangers faced Scottish Cup fifth-round humiliation at the hands of the second-tier side last Sunday, losing 1-0, with the Ibrox club since going silent as angry supporters demand managerial change.

Hearts host Rangers seven days on from one of Scottish football's greatest ever shocks, and their boss Neil Critchley is expecting to face a team who are determined to bounce back, creating the prospect of an exciting Premiership encounter.

Critchley experienced a tough start to life in Gorgie, with his squad battling at the wrong end of the division, leading to early calls for his head from some punters.

But the 46-year-old has since overseen an upturn in fortunes as Hearts go into this clash eight games unbeaten in all competitions. 

Previewing the upcoming meeting with Rangers, the Hearts head coach said: "You could say that makes it more difficult for us, because they’ll obviously be looking for a response from that game.

“Take that game out of the equation – and I know Rangers and their supporters won’t do that – but they’ve got excellent players and they were in a really good run of form.


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“So, we know whenever you play Rangers it’s a tough game.

“However, we’re at home, we get the energy and passion of our supporters behind us and we’re in good form ourselves. It's got the makings of a really good game.

“You learn from every game that you play. You look at the good things you've done and can you replicate them, and do them even better. Also not forgetting that you want to be yourself.

"We are at home, e want to play to our principles of the team that we want to see on the pitch, be a Hearts team, play with passion, play with endeavour and commitment. You know you’re going to have to do that against Rangers.

(Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group) “We’re going to have to be good without the ball, but also sometimes the best form of defence is to attack.

“We want to try and always be the dominant team and take the game to the opposition. It doesn't always work like that. We didn't start particularly well against Kilmarnock recently but we still found a way to win.

"So, we have to be adaptable. Rangers will be looking to bounce back from their defeat last weekend and they will want to start fast as well. On paper, it makes for a really exciting game.”


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Reflecting on Hearts' recent resurgence, Critchley told Sky Sports: "Maybe some of the indifferent performances or scores, results that we had early on, that actually helped the group to come together. I think we’ve grown.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit of time just to develop that trust between each other, but I think the belief in the group has definitely grown. We can win games in different ways and we’re unbeaten and in good form at the moment.

“Everything’s up for grabs at the moment really. We’ve spoken about that as a group. We’ve got eight league games left before it goes to the split. Our aim is to try and be in the top six and then try and push up the league as far as we can.

“We’re still in the Scottish Cup, obviously, making it to the quarter-finals, so we want to go as far as we can in that competition. So, we still have lots to play for.”

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