Steven Naismith knew Hearts comeback was coming as Jambos get ruthless in time for Rangers

Hearts grabbed the points after an incredible fightback – but Steven Naismith never had any doubt they would win.

For the Tynecastle manager the incredible turnaround in the first half was the ideal warm up for next week’s Scottish Cup semi-final with Rangers at Hampden. Livingston silenced Gorgie when birthday boy Stephen Kelly netted twice to hand David Martindale’s side a deserved advantage. But that only kicked Hearts into gear and they roared back with four goals in 22 minutes before the break.

The Edinburgh side were, however, aided and abetted by some absolutely atrocious defending by the struggling Lions. Hearts scored two almost identical goals from Jorge Grant and Yutaro Oda before Cammy Devlin fired them into the lead and Lawrence Shankland converted a spot-kick in first-half injury-time. Hearts sealed European football after going 19 points clear of fifth-placed St Mirren but for Livi it summed up their season. They simply can’t defend and remain nine points adrift of Ross County.

Naismith insisted he was relaxed because he knew his side would hit back. He said: “It was a poor start, really poor, really sloppy, and then brilliant. We lost two goals but it’s the third time we have come back.

“So that part I’m pleased with. But I knew when we were 2-0 down we’d come back into the game because we have shown it. The element of having a ruthless streak and being more clinical is something we have talked about.

“At no point did I think we need to hit the panic button or change it. We didn’t even change what we were doing, we just had to get better.”