Aberdeen argument discredits Hearts as belief bears fruit at Tynecastle

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Resolve and perseverance paid off with third place and Europe now confirmed

After a weekend in which Hearts’ third-place Premiership finish was confirmed, there is ample time for reflection in Gorgie. The stated aim was to reach third and secure European league-stage football under Steven Naismith’s tutelage. With three league games remaining, pressure is off and the job done.

Praise is due Naismith, his coaching staff and players for building a now-insurmountable 11-point lead over nearest challengers Kilmarnock. Credit must also go to the Hearts chairwoman Ann Budge and chief executive Andrew McKinlay for keeping faith with the head coach. While some supporters grew agitated seeing their team knocked out of Europe and losing to Motherwell, St Mirren and others last autumn, the Tynecastle hierarchy remained resolute.

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A run of 15 wins from 23 games since losing at Aberdeen in December underpinned Hearts’ surge to third spot. Cynics have suggested their prosperity is in part down to Aberdeen’s regression this term. The Pittodrie club usurped their Edinburgh rivals last spring to claim third spot but will finish this campaign in the Premiership’s bottom six. There is no denying the need for improvement in the north east, but claiming that is the only reason Hearts reclaimed third discredits endeavours in the Capital.

Naismith agrees. “I think it does,” he said in an exclusive Edinburgh News interview. “The way we have performed against the teams round about us, we have performed consistently and got results. On the flip of that, you say Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Dundee have performed much better and probably been much tougher opponents than many people would expect as well.

“Kilmarnock's record this season has been fantastic. They have had five attempts at beating us and they haven't beaten us so we are obviously doing something right in those games as well. Overall, I'm delighted because of the hard work and the buy-in we've had from the players. They take a lot of the credit because they are the ones who have to make the decisions on the pitch. They have got a lot more right than wrong this season.”

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Hearts relied heavily on captain Lawrence Shankland’s 28 goals but consistently strong defensive performances by players like Frankie Kent and Stephen Kingsley were just as important. Naismith has utilised his squad intelligently and flipped formation to good effect throughout the season. Two wins over Celtic, two over Aberdeen and an undefeated campaign against city rivals Hibs are just some highlights.

“It was my expectation at the start of the season that we would finish third. I firmly believed that. Any time I spoke to the club last summer or at the start of the season, I had real belief that we would do it. The manner in which we've done it is the bit where I think we have done better than expected.

“Maybe some teams haven't performed to the level they wanted but we have come through a lot. We have come through a stormy start but I expected that to happen to a point. Everything was new, we were asking the players to put themselves in vulnerable positions and we got punished for it early on.

“We had a real belief and that's the positive. Very rarely do you have a month or three weeks of a season to go and you can be relaxed. That doesn't mean putting the tools away and just be buzzing that you've managed to achieve it, it's relax in terms of your performance. That comes from the hard work put in over the last six, seven, eight months.”

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The final three games against Dundee, St Mirren and Rangers will see some younger players given game time, although Hearts still want a strong ending. They lost 3-0 at Celtic on Saturday after falling 2-0 behind inside 21 minutes, and consequently have won two of their last seven matches in all competitions. Naismith is still at the beginning of an evolution process and knows there are higher levels to achieve.

“The Celtic squad is experienced and has won trophies and understands how to deal with it. We are at the very early stages of that,” he explained. “I said it after the [Scottish Cup] semi-final and again on Saturday: There are naive moments and those moments are massive in these games. They cost you goals.

“When you are playing the best teams in the league and you give up goals, you need to work doubly hard to get back in the game and then try to win it. It doesn't just set them off with a one-goal lead, it sets the whole stadium off and gets them bouncing. Then it's much easier for Celtic to play. That's the frustrating thing.

“The bigger picture is we have had a really good season. I think we created more chances on Saturday than we have in the past when we've won. The quality of chances we created on Saturday was better than in our 2-0 win in December, but when you give up chances like we did then it's always going to cause you trouble.”

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Younger players can only gain experience from such high-octane occasions. “The majority of our squad will stay together,” added Naismith. “We are in our first year, we have made some good signings but we will definitely learn from games like Saturday and like the Scottish Cup semi - as we will from when we won 2-0 at Celtic Park. You need to learn from those experiences.

“Some of the mistakes are innocent mistakes that just happen. The consequences of them are massive. We will reflect back on these moments and the players will look at them individually and not make the same mistakes again.”

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