Hearts let Rangers breathe as they huffed and puffed at Hampden but Gorgie legend insists gap IS closing

Hearts legend Gary Mackay knows better than most how it feels to have silverware dreams shattered by Rangers. And he reckons his old side will be kicking themselves for failing to get at the Ibrox side for a second time at Hampden this season.

But the club’s all-time record appearance holder insists they ARE getting closer to the top two - and the stats prove it. Since November 1 they have won 51 league points, that's just one less than Celtic and three less than Rangers.

Mackay can understand fans’ frustration after Sunday's semi final where the Jambos shot themselves in the foot by conceding early before firing blanks at the other end. But he told Record Sport: “You look at the resources. Where Hearts are is probably punching slightly above our weight. But you have to keep aspiring to get closer to the top two. Unfortunately the economics of football now doesn’t allow it to happen as much.

“But in the last five or six months our league form has been exceptional. It’s not far behind Rangers and Celtic. It’s a case of going again in the next five games and building towards next season.”

Mackay reckons there is reason to be optimistic under Steven Naismith - and not least because he can see parallels with what Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown built in the late 1990s at Tynecastle.

The former midfielder made his last two cup final appearances under the duo in 1996 when they lost the Scottish Cup Final 5-1 to Rangers in May then the next season’s League Cup Final 4-3 to the same opposition in November. Jefferies kept the Jambos moving forward though and their next final meeting with Walter Smith’s side - in the 1998 Scottish Cup - secured a famous 2-1 victory that will forever be etched in Hearts folklore.

Unfortunately for