Robbie Neilson insists he loves an early Edinburgh Derby after Hibs chief Ron Gordon slammed the scheduling. And the bullish Hearts boss is happy to embrace any favourites tag placed upon his team ahead of the showdown against their city rivals.
Easter Road chairman Gordon let rip at the SPFL bosses and called their date-choice for the Premiership round two crunch in Leith as “absurd.” Neilson doesn’t agree and savours getting stuck in so early as it offers massive incentive to his troops and a huge potential springboard for the campaign aheads.
He said: “I think it’s great, to be honest. You want to get a Derby, to win this, to get some momentum. I look forward to it. I think when the fixtures come out, they are the first ones you look for. To get it early is great. If we win this on Sunday, it sets us up well for the coming games as well, so the sooner the better I think.”
Asked if he surprised by Gordon’s comments, Neilson added: “I quite like them coming early in the season. In my experience they usually come early.
“It gives you a target in pre-season, you build up to it as it is early in the campaign. It gets it over with, you want to build momentum, there’s nothing better than winning it.
“You want to get your first win of the season, we have both done that. If you win the derby it gives you that push.”
Hearts are unbeaten against Hibs in six games over almost three years and are again being touted as favourites to triumph. Neilson insists his troops should relish such expectation and said: “I would take being favourites every week if I could.
“When you play at Hearts, you want to go into these games as favourites. It’s part of being here you have to win games.
“You have to be able to handle that. We want to win every week, with that comes pressure and intensity and you have to make sure you do it. There will be bumps in the road, but we expect to go into every game, home or away and win it and it will be the same for this game.”
Hearts ’ impressive record adds confidence to their ranks, but Neilson added: “You know what it is like when you come to these games, you need to do it again.
“I know we’ve had a good couple of years against them, but we need to continue that into this season. The games we had last season we did well in were at Tynecastle and Hampden, so we need to go to Easter Road and make sure we have good games there as well.
“Obviously, we have less fans, but we still 3,500/4,000 which is brilliant. Whether it’s against the Old Firm, or the Edinburgh Derby, these are the best games. You don’t really need to motivate the players at all because they are ready for it.
“I think that’s what you enjoy about it. The pressure of the build-up, the pressure of the game. It’s that pressure and intensity you look forward to.
“It’s easier as a player as you look after yourself a bit more. As the manager you look after 11 players and need to get a game plan and things sorted.
“I don’t think I have won at Easter Road as a manager, so it would be nice to change that. I want to win at every ground, it doesn’t matter where it is.”
Neilson will be facing Hibs manager Lee Johnson and both he and assistant Jamie McAllister are ex-Tynecastle players. But the Hearts boss said: “I don’t think it being Lee’s first [Edinburgh Derby] will have a massive impact on the game.
“I know Lee from his time here and Jamie too. When you turn up at the game it is business as usual for us. It is about winning the game. It doesn’t matter who is in the other dugout.”
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