Robert Snodgrass is loving his new role as Hearts' 'sitter' as he revealed the capital club are 'kicking themselves' after defeat at Rangers.
Robbie Neilson snapped up the experienced midfielder on a free transfer to boost his ranks with the former West Ham, West Brom and Leeds United midfielder beginning to show his true talents as he continues to get match minutes under his belt. The former Scotland international has not had a proper pre-season in around three years but says he is feeling good fitness-wise ahead of the World Cup break.
Hearts lost out at Ibrox in midweek with Malik Tillman taking some heat off the shoulders of boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst but Snodgrass reckons a draw would have been a fair result and that the capital club are gutted after leaving Glasgow empty handed.
READ MORE: Robbie Neilson in Rangers time-wasting claim with Hearts boss unhappy with three minutes injury time
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On his new role at Hearts, he told Edinburgh Evening News: “It’s a different position to what I’m used to. I’m playing as a sitter, trying to keep the ball, get the lads ticking and moving. It’s different from what I had in my career but I’m loving it. I love football so I will play anywhere and try to enjoy it as much as I can.
“I haven't had a pre-season in three years so it’s been difficult. I had problems with my discs in my back and I feel I’m through that now. I said I needed five or six games and I’ll hopefully be where I want to be in terms of fitness. I’ve had two 90 minutes within 72 hours and put in good numbers in terms of stats and running. I’m feeling good fitness-wise."
He continued: “We took the ball in tight areas, kept it and showed no fear but I think we lacked that bit of quality in the final third to cause Rangers problems.
“I don’t think they had a lot of chances, it was quite even, and I think a draw would probably have been a fair result. It was a silly goal to lose on our part. We are kicking ourselves.
"I said to the lads we need to take the ball and not be afraid, I felt that last part just let us down. I’m proud of the lads after the Motherwell game last week. We showed courage to take the ball and try to play.
“It’s not good when you take nothing from the game but it shows you when we’re gutted not to get anything at Ibrox. It’s just the belief that you can go and beat Celtic and Rangers.
"We ran them both close but you don’t get anything for coming close. You need to think like these top teams and have the belief to beat them. We wanted to take something at Ibrox to build momentum going into the Livingston game [on Saturday].”
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