Hearts convinced they can deal with title nerves in thrilling battle with Rangers and Celtic

Excitement is overriding emotion in Gorgie ahead of five defining matches

Stephen Kingsley is in no doubt Hearts can cope with the nerves of being involved in a three-way Premiership title race.

The league leaders head to Easter Road on Sunday afternoon to face Edinburgh rivals Hibs in an eagerly-anticipated derby match. It is the first of five post-split matches that will shape one of the most exciting top-flight championship battles in decades.

Hearts have been league leaders since September and Kingsley feels that whenever they have suffered a setback in the past, they have bounced back accordingly. He does not feel his teammates are overawed by the magnitude of the situation and welcomed last week’s training camp in Spain to help take the squad away from the “noise” back home.

“Obviously none of us have really been in this situation before,” said Kingsley, “but I think everyone's dealing with it in the right way. It's excitement more than anything else. It's excitement that we're a part of it. It's confidence and belief that we deserve to be here as well. I think that's a massive part of it as well.

“We've got so much on the line that to get away from it all was actually quite a nice wee change of scenery. And we can just be with each other and talk about things and not have that kind of feel outside the noise. So it was good, it was nice - just a wee break and then back to reality.

“You can see how happy everyone is and how excited everyone is for the run-in and talking about what we need to do or what might happen. It's exciting. I think you can feel that all for the boys.”

Kingsley pointed to victories away at Celtic and Rangers, as well as bouncing back to negative recent results against Kilmarnock and Livingston, that Hearts are coping with the pressure of being in a title race.

"I think people say about nerves ... we've had disappointing results, 'here comes the nerves, this is the nerves',” added Kingsley. “We've always answered back. We've always had a good, positive result. We've always followed that disappointment with a good win.

“I think people can say it, 'oh it's nerves, it's nerves'. There will be nerves, obviously. That goes without saying. I think the boys have shown that they're dealing with it in the right way.”

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