Steven Naismith applauds flying Hearts as Jambos 'in a brilliant place' ahead of Hibs showdown

Delighted Stevie Naismith declared Hearts are in a "brilliant place” going into the first Edinburgh derby of the season.

The battling Jambos made it the perfect week, after winning the Viaplay Cup quarter-final with Kilmarnock, as sub Alan Forrest came off the bench to net the only goal of the game at Ross County. The Gorgie side - who haven’t lost to the County in six years - are now up to fourth and their manager knows it sets them up nicely for Saturday’s Tynecastle clash with Hibs.

Naismith admitted: “For consistency, it's important. The bigger picture is that we've gone through spells where we've won then lost, but now we've won two back-to-back which is a brilliant place to be going into a derby. Defensively we were very solid for the whole game. Games in Scotland inevitably have that period where things become a bit more direct, and you have to deal with that.

I felt we were in control for the whole game. Being picky, we could have managed the game better at the end, but it was a good performance."

Lowry was the match winner in the cup against Killie and he came off to create for Forrest’s winner this time. Naismith is pleased with the impact the playmaker is having but still wants more the other way.

The Hearts manager added: "He probably could be a bit disappointed not to start, but I was thinking more about our structure and I knew it was going to change in the second half. I challenge him all the time to give us an end product, and I thought he was really good off the ball today.

"We can't have a luxury player, he needs to be in certain positions and I thought he did that really well when he came on. I wouldn't say his off the ball work holds him back – for 90 per cent of his youth career he has been on the