Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson is looking to leave Tynecastle with a win against Rangers tonight before he heads to Milton Keynes Dons to take on the managerial role down there. Hearts will leapfrog Rangers into second spot in the Scottish Premiership if they beat the Ibrox club tonight in their first meeting since the pair were in the Championship. Any plans for signing in the January window will be left on the 'to do' list for the new man heading to the manager's door in Gorgie. Neilson said: "It's a huge game for us. It's been a while since we played them. When we were in the Championship we had the upper hand on most occasions and we hope to do that again on Wednesday night. I think we've got a really good squad here that can go and win the game. There are still a few boys in the squad that were involved in those games. We have real confidence in the group and the guys who have come in since then, every time we play at Tynecastle they expect to win the game. So the confidence is there. They (Rangers) are a very good footballing team. If you allow them to have a lot of possession, they will hurt you. So it's important that we try and stop that, and I think the atmosphere at Tynecastle will help us do that."
A 3-0 win over Motherwell on Saturday ended a run of four games without a win for Hearts and gave them the chance to move into second. Speaking ahead of announcing his plans to leave the club, Neilson said: "There is a motivation there to do that. It would be great for us. We have had a stop-start season games-wise and now we are coming to a period where we play Saturday-Saturday and midweek. It gives us that opportunity, if we can get into second, to keep ahold of it. We want to finish as high as we can, we want to finish in second place, so that probably answers your question. We finished third last season and we want to push again. That means either similar or getting second place. My drive is to try and get that second position."
Rangers manager Mark Warburton insists Neilson's move to MK Dons will have no impact on the game clash at Tynecastle. The Rangers manager believes the Hearts players will not lose focus as they look for the win that will take them above the Ibrox side and Aberdeen into second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership. He said: "All I know is I had Robbie at Brentford, he was a top professional as a player, he is a very talented manager and he has a very big future in the game. I like him enormously. I am very impressed with Robbie and he has a very bright career ahead I am sure but I am only focused on Rangers and he will deal with what he has to deal with. It doesn't (impact), it is about your relationship with the players and I am sure Robbie has a very strong relationship. The most important people are the players. We do what we do in our capacity but at the end of the day it is about the players. It is an important game tomorrow night and I am sure their focus will be as equally as strong as ours. It doesn't affect our preparation, we go there and respect them but it is just about Rangers from our perspective."
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