Relaxed Robbie Neilson knows it’s easier said than done but his recipe for winning a derby is pretty straightforward.
“Win your first header, win your first tackle, win your 50-50s and win the game – it’s as easy as that,” the Hearts boss smiled. “If we do that, we’ll win it.”
Neilson takes his side across the capital tonight brimming with confidence and hoping to stretch their lead over Hibs to a mammoth 15 points.
But the Jambos boss has been involved in enough of these fixtures to know form goes out the window. His side might be on the crest of a wave at the moment, but at Easter Road, in front of a full house, he is aware the tide could turn.
“We are on a good run of form at the moment, but going into a derby, it doesn’t really matter,” he insisted. “It’s how you start the game and how you implement yourself on the game as well.
“Derbies can be a springboard for a run of good form or it can kickstart a run of bad form.
“We are sitting in a position where we are doing alright but we hope to get a result that will really kick us on.”
Most of his squad – 14 of them, in fact – have never experienced Hibs at Easter Road but Neilson reckons they’ll have seen enough of them on television to know what is in store for them.
He added: “It’s just the nature of football now that at most clubs, players come and go within a year or two years. We’ve not been down to Easter Road for a while because we got demoted last season, but it’s going to be a great experience for all of these guys.
“They’ve all played in big games and they know what to expect playing in derbies and cup finals.
“I don’t have any qualms about them. I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
“Most of them have seen the games anyway because they are broadcast throughout Britain. The guys know what they are going into.
“They are always great games at Tynecastle and Easter Road. There’s a big build-up, big atmosphere. We’ll take a full allocation of 3500 fans and the away end will be rocking.”
The fact that Hibs will have the vast majority of the support in Leith doesn’t concern the Hearts boss. He’s just delighted the game is being played in front of a capacity crowd, having been shelved from the start of January because no fans were allowed at that point.
Neilson said: “It was a gamble at the time but a great decision to do it. Last season and even during the games we had about a month ago with no fans, it’s not proper football. There’s no atmosphere and it’s not enjoyable. I’m looking forward to tomorrow with a full house.”
And he appears to be relishing the chance to lock horns with new Hibs boss Shaun Maloney for the first time and confessed that he’s more than happy to face a Hibs side that lost striker Martin Boyle in the transfer window.
Neilson admitted: “Boyle was a big player for them with his pace and he caused a lot of problems but they’ve recruited a number of players and their team has changed quite a bit.
“Shaun has come in and changed their style. It’s more possession-based and you can see what they are trying to do. They have a way of playing, as do we. It will be an interesting game.
“For us it’s how we turn up. We know how we want to play.
“The last couple of games, to be honest, we haven’t implemented it (style of play) as well as we’d have liked and hopefully we can get back to our way of playing. Although it will be a difficult away game, we still have to try and dominate the ball.”
Hearts will be without the injured Michael Smith and Craig Halkett, but John Souttar has recovered from an ankle knock and will play this evening.
