Steven Naismith confirms Hearts star 'struggling' to make Rangers semi-final clash as keeper switch explained

Hearts had a shaky start but rallied to secure an emphatic win versus Livingston.

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith.

Steven Naismith has confirmed his thinking behind Craig Gordon’s return to league action - as he made an early Scottish Cup team news admission after a 4-2 Premiership win over Livingston.

All the action happened inside a chaotic first 45 minutes, as two errors at the back allowed Stephen Kelly to score twice for the Lions. It was the home side who came roaring back, in part thanks to inspired Lawrence Shankland and Barrie McKay contributions.

Captain Shankland notched two assists in three minutes for Jorge Grant and Yutaro Oda before Cammy Devlin completed the comeback. A Shankland penalty before half-time brought an end to scoring as Hearts made sure of European football in some capacity for next term.

Now the goal will be to ensure it’s in third spot and in either the Europa League or Europa Conference League group stage, with Rangers in Scottish Cup semi-final action at Hampden next Sunday. Third spot becomes a guaranteed group stage spot next weekend if Aberdeen lose to Celtic, now the Dons’ bottom six spot is confirmed.

There was an emotional return between the sticks for Gordon, making his first start at Tynecastle and in the league since a serious leg break last season. Naismith confirmed it was with next Sunday’s semi-final at Hampden in mind, but also admitted midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof was unlikely to make the Rangers game.

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He said when asked if the midfielder will be available for next weekend: “Probably not – he won’t have trained enough. He is not in the plans to train at the start of the week so I think he will be struggling to be involved. He’s (Gordon) been playing in the cup and I thought it was a good opportunity to get him a game before the semi-final. That was the decision.”

There were six changes to the team that beat St Mirren last time out but while some of the thinking was to give stars a chance to shine before Hampden, it was also due to others not training fully throughout this week. Naismith explained: “I think it was a mixture. A couple of the boys hadn’t trained all week, so their training time wasn’t up to the level that I thought it was worth starting them.

“And then with the way we thought the game was going to be, we thought we needed certain players. Barrie came in because he has got that quality and he showed that for the first goal by finding that pass. And we need to get players minutes that haven’t had them to get them up to speed. But ultimately it was because I thought the players out on the pitch could win us the game.”

Despite going two goals down, no panic set in for Hearts against Livingston, who are nine points from safety with five games left in the Premiership. Naismith insists that is a sign of Hearts progress.

He added: “We didn’t come out the changing room for the first 10-15 minutes! It was a poor start, really poor, really sloppy, and then brilliant. We lost two goals but it’s the third time we have come back. So that part I’m pleased with.

“But I knew when we were 2-0 down we’d come back into the game because we have shown it. The element of having a ruthless streak and being more clinical is something we have talked about. And that part I am really happy with because our speed of attack, our bodies in the box, that’s what gets us back in the game.

“There were some really good goals. When the second goal goes in there’s a frustration from me and the fans. But the reaction to us going 2-0 down this time compared to Ross County or Dundee was totally different. That shows you we, as a collective, are in a much different position to where we were.

“I said before the game Livingston have still got fight. You see it in all their games. The first goal is poor from us. Our reactions are poor. Then Craigy comes out and it’s all a bit panicky, but it was a really composed finish. And the second one’s poor from our point of view as well.

“But at no point did I think we need to his the panic button or change it. We didn’t even change what we were doing, we just had to get better. We knew with their aggressive pass we would have a free player. We started finding that free player and exposed them.

“From the previous games, our reaction has been good in those moments and I think that’s shown. We didn’t get sucked into hitting it long or getting into a fight. We still tried to pass it and we found that free player, which then opens the whole game up. And then the players at the right times made good forward runs, which creates those opportunities.”