Steven Naismith wants his Hearts side to maintain consistency as they prepare to welcome St. Mirren to Tynecastle.
The Jambos square off against the Buddies for a Christmas cracker in Gorgie tomorrow, with the boys in maroon fresh from a statement win at Celtic Park last weekend.
Momentum is building for Naismith’s men, but the boss has stressed the need for improvement on our previous match against St. Mirren – with the Paisley Saints level on points with Hearts in the cinch Premiership standings.
“When you’re winning games, momentum comes for sure, that’s the plus,” he told the media ahead of the game. “From being at the club for a while it’s always been something we wanted – to compete in those big games. We’re making good strides and the more you do it, the easier it gets.
“Every game we’re looking to win. It’s going to be tough because we’re into a tight period where we’re going to need to use the squad. Games are tight because we’re playing teams around about us. We need to focus on ourselves. We’re in a good place right now, but if we keep winning, we can be in an even better position.
“For St. Mirren, I think they fall into a category where they’ve had a few tough results here and there. It’s been tight margins, but they’ve got an experienced manager who’s done as good a job as anybody this season.
“They’re very well drilled. Watch any of their games and you can see every player understands their role perfectly. They’ll be a very tough opponent tomorrow. We’ve got to take the positives from our first game against them this season.
“We had a lot of possession against them, and the goal came from our mistake. We had issues in the final third but now we’re at home and have a chance to turn it against them. “
Finally, the Head Coach was able to offer the latest news from the treatment room at Tynecastle.
“Alex Lowry is back in training,” he added. “Kingsley came off last week but is back training. Jorge Grant is out; he’s got the same kind of injury that Cammy Devlin has. He’ll miss the next couple but I’m hopeful he’ll be involved again before the break.
“Boycie’s approaching the final stages (of his recovery) but he’s not one that we want to push until we’re comfortable with it. I’ve been there myself as a player where you can rule yourself out for months if you don’t tread carefully.”
