Steven Naismith insisted third place IS the target for Hearts just days after claiming it wasn’t “the be all and end all”.
But the cautious caretaker refused to make any guarantees and warned that looking too far ahead would see the freefalling Jambos “doomed to fail”. Naismith moved to set the record straight after his comments just days after replacing axed Robbie Neilson caused alarm among the club’s supporters.
The 36-year-old opened his account with a 1-0 derby defeat to Hibs on Sunday - a fifth straight league loss for the side who have seen a 10-point lead over Aberdeen turn into a five-point deficit. But it was his pre-match statement which raised eyebrows and flew in the face of Tynecastle chief executive Andrew McKinlay who days earlier said sacking Neilson with seven games to go gave the club a better opportunity of rescuing third spot and the accompanying £5m Euro windfall.
Record Sport columnist and former Hearts ace Ryan Stevenson accused Naismith of delivering a slap in the face to the Tynecastle faithful. But ahead of Saturday’s clash with rock bottom Ross County the caretaker - who revealed Liam Boyce and Beni Baningime have rejoined training after more than a year out injured - said: “From the club’s point of view third is the aim. It has got to be the aim.
“Three years ago we were in the Championship, strides have been made, you get the taste of European football and what comes from that is expectation. Now the club has got to strive to be better. In the background there are lots of good things going on.
“For me, if you don’t win games you are not going to be in the mix for that. What we first need to think about is to enjoy playing football, which then gets you more chances in games and gets you wins.
“Then we will look come the last few games of the season and say ‘are we in the pack for it, or are we not?’ That’s got to be the way you look at, if you look at any other way, or you set it up any other way, I think you are doomed to fail.
“You can’t look beyond where you are at this moment in time. So, for me, it’s about first performance, secondly getting the result which will come from a good performance and after the split you play everybody in the mix so that’s the telling part of the season anyway.”
Hearts face County at Tynecastle this weekend before heading into the final five games after the split. And Naismith backed his players to dig themselves out of the rut that has put their Euro hopes on the line and cost Neilson his job.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “There is a good group of footballers here who want to win and be successful. That’s been questioned over the last six to eight weeks with results but overall the guys are desperate to do well.
“We needed to change things that were happening rather than staying in the rut we were in. We did that against Hibs. We defended much more solid than we had been.
“We probably never carried as big a threat as I would like us to have from where the club have been over the last few years making strides in terms of attacking football. That’s something we will look to change in the coming weeks.”
Naismith was delighted to see ACL injury victims Boyce and Baningime back in training - but admitted they are a long way off being ready to return to action. He said: “Liam and Beni and back in the group. That’s not full session, it’s early stages.
“It will be scaled over the next month and determined by the physios and how these players are feeling. Liam and Beni have been out with bad injuries, I’ve been there myself and getting out on the grass is a massive part of it.”
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