With the number of injuries Derek McInnes has had to deal with, Michael Smith wouldn’t have been the least bit shocked had Hearts fallen off a cliff.
But the fact the Jambos are still there, proudly sitting at the Premiership’s peak has only convinced the former Tynecastle defender that his old side are ready to cling tight to their place at the summit. McInnes’ Gorgie shock troops remain the team to catch as the race for the title enters the final eight-game sprint.
However, their lead at the top has been reduced to just two points after Saturday night’s slip-up at Kilmarnock. Ex-defender Smith, however, is confident that’s a mere bump in the road for a team who’ve come back from bigger blows this season.
At one point, it appeared McInnes’ men would have a mountain to climb after seeing an entire team of first-team stars placed on the casualty list. But with key men Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Devlin and Beni Baningime all due back for Saturday’s clash against Dundee, Smith fully expects Hearts to be the team planting a maroon flag at the top of the podium come May.
He told Record Sport: “Killie can be a tricky place to go at the best of times. They make life hard for you obviously on that pitch of theirs but you also need to consider they’re scrapping for their lives at the bottom. So it was a tough game, especially when the team has got so many guys out.
“Derek is having to operate without guys like Cammy, Shanks, Baningime and Stephen Kingsley. These are all big players. So as much as Saturday was tough to take, the fact is they are still top of the table and the boys will be confident that they can go on and win it.
“I mean, when you consider who is out, it’s remarkable that they have come through this period and are still where they are. The squad that they’ve put together is unbelievable. With boys like that missing, maybe in past years you would have seen a massive fall-off, but to be top of the league still is great credit to the players and the staff.
(Image: SNS Group)
“It looks like Cammy and Shanks are due back this week, so that’ll only bring more positivity and a big boost to the squad. So yeah, I’m excited for the run-in and can’t wait to watch it.”
Backers of Hearts’ Old Firm rivals were quick to insist the result at Rugby Park was proof that McInnes’ men are starting to wilt under the title pressure. But if anyone knows what strain feels like, it’s Smith after he was part of the Jambos side relegated from the Premiership at the end of the Covid-curtailed 2019-20 season. And he knows which end of the table he’d rather be operating at.
The former Northern Ireland international said: “I’ve experienced the pressure that you feel at the other end of the table and believe me, it’s a lot more than the kind the lads are living with now. There’s pressure on every game but this squad have got the good type of pressure at the minute.
“Everyone’s looking at them, everyone’s waiting for them to slip up. I suppose in football that puts extra pressure on you, but as I say, it looks like they’ve handled the pressure pretty well all season. They’ve been top for most of the season and I don’t see why they can’t continue with that, especially now that they have got their bigger players coming back from injury. There’ll be loads of big games coming up, especially after this split and those lads will have a huge part to play.”
Hearts might be the frontrunners but Smith reckons it’s Celtic and Rangers who will be sweating right now.
“Yeah, they’re the big clubs, they are the ones who are expected to win the league every year, and that adds extra pressure as well,” he said. “For most of the year so far, they’ve both underperformed. Hearts have just been consistently good, chalking up win after win, and they’ve beat the Old Firm teams regularly as well.
“So it’s been exciting for all of Scotland. Hopefully Hearts can go on and win it this year, and it’ll really put the cat amongst the pigeons. Celtic and Rangers are the two big boys with the budgets and blah blah blah, but I think Hearts have put a squad together this year that’s better than both of them, so there’s no reason that they couldn’t push on and win it in my opinion.”
Michael Smith and Jermain Defoe battle for the ball (Image: PA)
Smith may have suffered the agony of falling through the top-flight trapdoor when SPFL chiefs called the season early six years ago. But he was there to drink in the atmosphere 12 months later as champagne corks popped after Robbie Neilson’s side successfully clambered their way out of the Championship.
The 37-year-old, however, predicts those scenes will be nothing like the a wet weekend in Skegness compared to the party that will sweep the streets of Edinburgh if McInnes’ team can go all the way this year.
Smith said: “Being relegated was such a horrid time. Hearts are a big club in Scotland and for that to happen was unthinkable, really. Ultimately, our squad wasn’t good enough. We had a bad year. I’m not blaming Covid for what happened, we just weren’t good enough throughout the whole year.
“I’m just glad that we managed to get back up the first time of asking, which was tough too. The Championship is a hard league but to get the club back in the Premiership was good. I was there the day we celebrated winning promotion back to the top flight, which was a special day. But the party if they pull this off will be a hundred times bigger. It wouldn’t even compare.”