It’s about time for Hearts to move on from Rangers, and Steven Naismith needs to tell them this: Ryan

Lawrence Shankland is backed by the former Hearts star to guide his team to their first victory over the Ibrox giants in over four years.

Among elite athletes like myself who were never part of the Old Firm, there was an old proverb that went, “If you don’t play for Rangers or Celtic, the next best thing is to beat them.”

For me, that really did ring true. Of course, beating our neighbors with hearts was exciting too, but during my stay in Gorgie, we grew accustomed to abandoning our unfortunate neighbors. More impactful than taking out one of the big two was flooring the other. However, this is the annoying thing to know ahead of Rangers’ visit on Tuesday: The previous time Hearts defeated the Rangers, Daniel Stendel was in command. As you can see in the above picture, that’s 11 games and nearly four years without a victory in the series.

Although the Glasgow team may possess significantly more resources, Hearts shouldn’t be allowed to go so long without hitting them in the face. You don’t want to be in the situation where 11 points without a win turns into 15 points, then 19 points as the seasons go by.

I played my second season at Tynecastle, and we beat both Celtic and Rangers. I scored the biggest tap-in of my life against Rangers to infuriate Walter Smith’s team and start a massive Jambo pub crawl in Edinburgh. It’s funny because Steven Naismith was a member of the Rangers that afternoon, although I doubt he remembers it as well as I do.

He would, however, gratefully recall his time as a member of the Stendel team that eliminated Steven Gerrard’s Gers from the Scottish Cup in February 2020. Naisy will probably be emphasizing that to his players before kickoff tomorrow night. Take advantage of the opportunity. Make some lifelong memories when you travel.

It’s fantastic that we defeated Kilmarnock on Saturday to win four straight for the first time in five years. However, if this Hearts team is anything like them, they will recognize that the next game is much more important to win. Dump Rangers will take to the skies.

I do, in fact, recall every detail of the game-winning goal against them in 2011. Looked like a complete worldy from two yards away.

Big Marius Zaliukas broke free from defence, took on two players, and played it wide to Lee Wallace, who nearly lost it but managed to get it to Rudi Skacel. Stephen Elliott then took a huge swipe at the ball and shanked his attempt towards me. I touched it past Allan McGregor even though I thought I was offside, but it turned out that Steven Whittaker had played me onside.

My luck was beyond belief. Our lone effort on goal came from there. To be honest, I nearly missed. Late in the game, I was so worried that I whacked the ball as quickly as possible and nearly missed it!

That evening, Jim Jefferies gave us the freedom to roam. The Jet was excellent at determining when to release us. Paint Edinburgh maroon, we all went bouncing down Princes Street. It was clear to Jim and Billy Brown that those were moments to savor.

This side needs to seek that feeling right now. In Scotland, Hearts is the third-biggest club. It’s time to expand on their current situation as they sit down at the table once more. They need to confront the Rangers. They cannot be too respectful. The supporters desire for them to adopt a classic blood and thunder strategy, going all out.

Get by them on the side, put crosses in the box, and give Lawrence Shankland opportunities. The secret is right there. With the rumors tying Shankland to Ibrox, all eyes will be on him. If he scores a few goals, I wouldn’t be shocked.

With all due respect, I believe that Rangers do not currently have a striker on par with Lawrence, thus if there is one decent striker on the field tomorrow, it would be him. The start for Philippe Clement has been positive. However, he will never have experienced Tynecastle like this, especially in the middle of the week when it’s packed.

And following their fourth victory on the road at Kilmarnock, Hearts ought to be brimming with self-assurance. I had said earlier in the season that their main issue was consistency—they couldn’t win if they didn’t play well.

However, they had to perform admirably on a terrible surface on Saturday in order to win a game. There were plenty of justifications for a mistake. The pitch for plastic. the ice and snow. Their dismal performance at Rugby Park. However, they pull off one of those spectacularly ugly 1-0 victories, and Naismith would have thought that was a work of art.

He accurately stated that they cannot continue to wait five years to win four straight. That’s a rather scary statistic. Given the club’s stature, it is astonishing that they have won four consecutive Premiership games in five years.

Sure, there will be moments of weakness, but in order to win at Hearts, you must quickly get back on track and win four or five games in a row. That’s what creates effective teams. In the past few years, they have been guilty of allowing a poor outcome to derail things.

However, things are starting to come together at this point. They would have practiced the incredible goal they scored last week against St Johnstone on the training field. They have now only given up one goal in four games, which is fantastic defensive play.

If I were Naisy, I would tell the players, “Now that we’ve overcome this obstacle, can we go ahead and defeat the Old Firm?” Make a stand against the big boys by going.

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