Steven Naismith 'comfortable' with Hearts pressure as he urges players to understand two Jambo non negotiables

Steven Naismith insists he's "comfortable" with the pressure of being Hearts manager.

He was feeling the heat prior to Tuesday night's Viaplay Cup quarter-final clash against Kilmarnock, as were the Tynecastle board. Protest banners appeared in Gorgie and the away end in Ayrshire before kick-off. But Naismith cooled tensions slightly by guiding the Jambos through to the last four thanks to Alex Lowry's late strike.

Jorge Grant had given Hearts a first half lead before Brad Lyons headed home the equaliser in the second. But Liam Boyce and Lowry combined to confirm a Hampden date with either Rangers or Livingston, Hibs or St Mirren and one of Aberdeen and Ross County. It doesn't mean everything is rosy, but eases up the fan frustrations towards Naismith for the time being. "I'm pretty realistic as a person so I understand that if you become a manage of a club like Hearts and it's not going well, then you're under pressure," he told Viaplay Sports. "That is the job and I'm comfortable with that.

"I think this season that our performances have actually been either really entertaining or really flat. We just need to get that consistency. We've got some young players in the team and we've had injuries that just disrupt the mentality of the day-to-day workings.

"But we need to deal with them and we've got a good enough squad that we should deal with them. For me, that's the biggest thing that I want the players to understand; the mentality of the club and to play with freedom."