Heart of Midlothian

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There were no doubts about this, was there?

As the Premiership's top scorer, it seemed inevitable that Lawrence Shankland would be named in the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland team of the year.

His fellow top-flight players had little choice but to stick his name down after 21 goals in the league and 28 in all competitions.

While the Scotland striker leads the line, Hearts fans may feel aggrieved at the absence of defender Frankie Kent, with Celtic's Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales taking the two centre-half spots.

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Former Hearts striker Steven MacLean insists Steven Naismith's side know how to hurt the "big" teams ahead of their Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers.

The Tynecastle side have beat Celtic twice this season, but haven't prevailed over the Ibrox outfit in over four years.

"He's [Naismith] got the players there to go and hurt Rangers," MacLean said.

"They've got good pace in the wide areas and obviously the graft and the guile of Lawrence Shankland who's a top goalscorer as well.

"He'll be thinking of ways he can hurt Rangers.

"When you look at Hearts' season, they're the third best team in the country, they've got good results against the big sides so I'm sure they know they've got the players there and the harmony to get a result."

Striker Lawrence Shankland will lead Hearts' hopes in the Scottish Cup last four against Rangers at Hampden on Sunday having worked at Hampden for the Tynecastle side's 2012 final triumph over Hibs.

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Lawrence Shankland says this Hearts side have the chance to go down as heroes by winning the Scottish Cup.

The Tynecastle side are preparing to face a wounded Rangers at Hampden on Sunday in the second semi-final meeting between the teams this season.

The Scotland striker isn't getting ahead of himself, admitting they face a difficult task to reach this year's final, while still harbouring hopes of lifting the trophy.

“It would be amazing,” Shankland said. “You’re allowed to dream when you’re at this stage.

“The semi-final, one step away from a final, it’s obviously something you’re looking at. But you need to concentrate on the task at hand first and if you can get by that, you can continue to dream.

“All trophies help the status of not just me but the full team. You go down as a team that gets remembered if you can get your hands on a trophy, so the boys will have that in their heads and that’s what we’ll look to do.

“It’s a great opportunity for us, it’s one we are all looking forward to and we need to go into it with a real positive outlook.”

As they prepare to go head to head in the semi-finals on Sunday, watch the previous Scottish Cup meeting of Hearts and Rangers when the Ibrox side prevailed 2-0 in extra time to lift the trophy in 2022.

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Hearts have a "really good chance" of progressing to the Scottish Cup final, says former Tynecastle striker Lee Miller.

However, the ex-Scotland international warned that Steven Naismith's side can't afford to give Rangers a fast start at Hampden, as they did against Livingston last weekend.

"In terms of Hearts' chances, I think they've got a really good chance," Miller told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"They've got Lawrence Shankland as well, who scores goals. But if you look outwith that, his work outside the box as well. It's not just scoring goals, the amount of goals he's involved in. He's a proper team player.

"But the players round about him are contributing as well. I think they are getting into the game in really good form.

"I watched the game at the weekend against Livingston. They gave them a two-goal head start. They can't afford to do that against Rangers at the weekend.

"If they do that, I don't know if they'll get back from that. But the way they finish the game after the two goals that they give Livingston, they were really strong and they created a lot of chances."

Hearts manager Steven Naismith believes striker Lawrence Shankland deserves to be named Scotland's player of the year, with 28 goals club goals already in the bag. (Daily Record), external

Read the rest of Friday's Scottish gossip.

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Hearts head coach Steven Naismith challenged his side to keep their cool in the heat of battle when they face Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-finals on Sunday.

The Tynecastle outfit have lost all four of their meetings with Rangers this season, but Naismith believes they are more than capable of ending that particular record.

"We need to be better in possession than we have been in games against Rangers recently," he said. "If we are, we can cause them a lot of problems.

"That's the one part of the games we've not done well enough. We've worked on how we do that, and we believe we'll go into the game with a good plan to win it.

"It's hard work getting to this point. The nerves, the adrenaline, the sense of opportunity - all these key moments happen through the 90 minutes. It's about having calm heads at the right times to take advantage of those moments.

"We've learned from our mistakes in the past. Hopefully we do that again on Sunday and cause more problems to Rangers than we have in past games."

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Hearts head coach Steven Naismith has been talking to the media before his side's Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers on Sunday.

Here are the key points from his press conference:

• Naismith says he's not massively surprised by Rangers' recent slump in form. Points to the players that have been at Ibrox for a number of years and have failed to win trophies.

• Doesn't think Rangers' drop off has happened suddenly. Says they "carried luck" during their long unbeaten run.

• Says that the recent comeback win over Livingston was a direct result of "belief in what we're doing".

• Naismith expects a fairly open game at Hampden between two teams that create plenty of chances.

• Challenged Hearts to be better in possession that they have been against Rangers in previous meetings this season.

• Thinks Hearts can put pressure on Rangers if they have "calm heads" and "make the right choices".

• There are no new injury concerns going into the game.

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Lawrence Shankland insists his sole focus is helping Hearts reach the Scottish Cup final, rather than the prospect of playing for Scotland at this summer's Euros.

The 28-year-old has scored 28 goals in all competitions this season, and he says he wants to help Hearts improve on their previous Hampden outing this season, when they lost 3-1 to Rangers in the Viaplay Cup semi-final.

“Of course it could maybe help [my Scotland chances] in the bigger picture but I think the sole focus has to be on trying to win the semi-final,” Shankland said.

“I think you would probably be silly to have your mindset anywhere else than just trying to win that game and get the opportunity to play in a Scottish Cup final.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to do that and put up a better show than the last time we played at Hampden.”

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Ex-Hearts captain Steven Pressley believes there’s "no reason why" his former club can’t shock Rangers in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final.

Pressley, who started his career at Ibrox and lifted the trophy for Hearts in 2006, feels his ex-team could be catching the Govan side just the right time.

"For the first time since [Philippe] Clement’s come in to Rangers, they’re going through a period of uncertainty," Pressley said.

"Just now you’ve got what would appear to be a very confident Hearts side, so I think it makes for a really intriguing game.

"I hope Hearts can go on and win, but obviously it’s a huge challenge for them."

The only problem for those of a Hearts persuasion is their recent record against Rangers - the Edinburgh club haven’t beaten the men from Ibrox since early 2020.

Clement has already faced them four times in just over five months, winning the lot with an aggregate score of 11-2.

But Hearts have beaten league leaders and cup holders Celtic twice already this season, including a 2-0 victory in Glasgow, and have comfortably established themselves as Scotland's third force this term.

"It’s not that Hearts are not there on merit," Pressley adds. "They’re very much a team that’s performing well and getting results.

"They’re in good shape and in good form and they’ve shown recently the ability to come from behind, so they should go into the game with real confidence.

"They’ve already demonstrated the ability to beat one of the Old Firm this season. They beat Celtic at Celtic Park so they should take great confidence from that.

"I’ve got a good feeling about Hearts just now, I really do."

There are big calls to be made as Hearts head to Hampden on Sunday bidding to reach the Scottish Cup final at Rangers' expense.

Should Zander Clark return in goals to replace Craig Gordon? Who gets the nod in the engine room where the game could be won and lost?

Put yourself in Steven Naismith's shoes and choose your Jambos XI for the big occasion here.

There is something different about Hearts at the moment. A welcome change and undoubtedly one of the reasons for success this season.

There is no sense of panic. On Saturday against Livingston the team went two goals behind and for the third time this season clawed their way back to earn points.

In years gone by the thought of going two behind at home to teams Hearts were expected to beat would have brought outrage and clamour for the fans to have managers sacked.

In December Ross County were 2-0 up and looked destined for a win only for Kenneth Vargas and Lawrence Shankland to find the net late on and earn a draw.

Then in January newly-promoted Dundee were 2-0 ahead at the break. This time Hearts secured all three points after a spirited fightback.

Saturday, though, was a shock. Livingston had only won three league games all season and here they were 2-0 up midway through the first half. Hearts responded with four before the break to the delight of the near-capacity crowd.

On Sunday it's a trip to Hampden to take on a Rangers side still battling for a domestic treble. There will be little room for error as Philippe Clement will have his team fired up for this one.

A place in the Scottish Cup final at the end of May is the prize. Hearts have lost all four meetings with Rangers this season and haven't beaten them for four years. Sunday would be the perfect time to put that right.

Heart of Midlothian could have to fork out about £150,000 for guaranteeing they would sell 21,000 tickets for Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final with Rangers - because the total sits on 17,500. (Scottish Sun)

Hearts should be "smelling blood" in the Scottish Cup semi-final after Rangers' shock loss in the Highlands, says former Tynecastle midfielder Ryan Stevenson. (Daily Record)

Read the rest of Wednesday's gossip.

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Hearts will host title-chasing Rangers on the final day of the Scottish Premiership season.

Steven Naismith's side kick off the post-split fixtures with trips to Kilmarnock and Celtic as the only team in the league to win at both venues this term.

Dundee will travel to Tynecastle, while Hearts will make their third visit of the league campaign to St Mirren.

Hearts' post-split fixtures (All times BST)

• Kilmarnock (A) - Saturday 27 April, 15:00

• Celtic (A) - Saturday 4 May, 15:00

• Dundee (H) - Saturday 11 May, 15:00

• St Mirren (A) - Wednesday 15 May, 19:45

• Rangers (H) - Saturday 18 May, 12:30

I can imagine thousands of Jambos had the same thought as me first thing on Monday morning and checked their work holiday calendars, following confirmation that Hearts will play European football for the third consecutive season.

The truth is, we’ve all checked months ago and have earmarked a few different dates, depending on what competition and stage Hearts enter at.

Saturday’s 4-2 win at home to Livingston confirmed that we will finish at least fourth, and without being disrespectful to the other sides below us, I’d be astonished now if we don’t finish third.

I looked round Tynecastle at 2-0 to Livingston and the thing that surprised me was just how level headed the majority of supporters were. There was no exodus to the Gorgie pubs, or verbals shouted on. There was just an expectation that Steven Naismith had to fix things.

To his credit, he did. The four goals we scored all stemmed from training ground tactics and focused attacks starting from our left-hand side.

Naismith has obviously been able to indoctrinate the team with his style of play and he needed time to do so in retrospect. With the time he’s been afforded, he’s been able to breed more confidence into the players and that has transferred into games and brought us success.

People always go on about ‘credit in the bank’ for managers and it’s fair to say that Naismith has so much of that at the moment, he’s having to set up a separate savings account.

I’m hoping we are still to reach our season’s crescendo with Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi final now being our biggest game of the season to date.

There’s no doubt that Rangers should still be the favourites to progress, despite their disappointment in Dingwall last Sunday. Everyone knows that Hearts haven’t defeated Rangers at Hampden but records are there to be broken.

It’s night and day when you contrast the feeling going into this match compared to the League Cup semi-final against the same opponents five months ago.

We go into the match with players in good form and a plethora of attacking options. I hope we really take the game to them and put Rangers under pressure right from the start.

It’s in these types of matches that cult heroes are born, I genuinely believe that they could see a new player leave Hampden with their place in Gorgie folklore secured forever more.

With the Scottish Cup celebrating its 150th year, could the club celebrating its 150th birthday be heading into the final?

Greg Playfair can be found on the @OorWeeChat Podcast, external.

Former Heart of Midlothian assistant manger Lee McCulloch says the Tynecastle club moved for Celtic winger Mikey Johnston in 2022 - but he didn't want to leave for another Scottish team. (Daily Record)

Read the rest of Tuesday's gossip.

After 22 minutes it seemed unlikely any Hearts players would make this edition of team of the week.

But Steven Naismith's side came roaring back in a clinical display to turn the tide and bag another three points.

Jorge Grant was the driving force in midfield and sparked the sensational comeback with the hosts' opening goal.

Once again, Lawrence Shankland made the difference in the final third, grabbing a goal from the spot and two assists for good measure.

However, the most pleasing aspect for the Tynecastle faithful may be the showing of Barrie McKay, who looked back to his best with an audacious range of passing on display. There's nobody quite like him in this Hearts side.

Pat Nevin and Richard Foster join Liam McLeod to pick over the bones of another incredible weekend of Scottish football drama.

They look back on Ross County’s historic victory over Rangers and discuss what impact it could have at both ends of the table.

They also assess the jobs done by Tony Docherty and Nick Montgomery as Dundee secure their place in the top 6 at the expense of Hibs and Motherwell.

Listen to today's episode of the Scottish Football Podcast here.