Steven Naismith plays it cool after Hearts' Ross County rout and looks forward to 'opportunities'

Steven Naismith gives the thumbs-up to Hearts after overseeing the 6-1 win over Ross County.

Steven Naismith placed the focus on the three points rather than the six goals as Hearts emerged from their recent rut to blow Ross County away with a 6-1 win.

The comprehensive victory lifts the Tynecastle side to within two points of third-placed Aberdeen, who host Rangers on Sunday. Naismith’s managerial bow at Tynecastle could not have gone better. His side were 4-0 up at half time. Josh Ginnelly scored again in the second half and skipper Lawrence Shankland completed his hat-trick just before the hour mark. A sorry-looking Ross County side scored a consolation goal with five minutes left from the spot through substitute Owura Edwards-Owura.

“It gets a win,” said Naismith. “I say it all along, if we win games we will be successful, it’s as simple as that. I am not going to sit here and say everything changes from last week (against Hibs) because it doesn’t. We are going into a run of fixtures when you are playing against the best five teams in the league and all the games will bring their own threats and challenges for us but they also bring opportunities, which is the main thing for us.

“And what comes out of this week is the hard work we have been doing for two weeks is paying off. Players are picking the right moments to play forward and the positions they are picking up are good. They see the hard work does pay off. What we are saying is true. It is not made up. As we keep saying, it is not rocket science. It is being brave.”

Naismith praised Shankland, who is now on 25 goals for the season. “As much as Shanks has not scored that many recently, it has been the whole team situation that has stopped that,” he said. “He has maybe been getting one chance if that every game and the quality has not really been that high. We give him good chances and he will score because he is a real threat. He has progressed as a player over the years. He is much more well-rounded player, as you saw today. He has the intelligence to drop in or go in behind if he needs and he has the one which hits the bar – you aint teaching that. It is about having the touch and the finesse to guide it over the goalie and he was unlucky with that one.”

Ross County manager Malky Mackay put the result down to a bad day at the office. He compared it to his side’s 5-0 loss at home against Motherwell earlier in the season. “People were under-par and there’s not really any explanation to that, other than the fact we didn’t perform," he said. “Give credit to Hearts, they did and they were excellent on the day. As far as I was concerned, we certainly weren’t under-estimating Hearts. “I know there was a lot of talk about how they were playing, the results, and stuff like that, but we’re talking about players who have been third in the league and have done it at this level.

“We knew we were coming here and it was going to be a tough game. They played to their best, I would imagine, and we were certainly nowhere near it. And on a day when that happens then that’s what can happen. It’s happened twice this season and the rest of the time we’ve been in every game we’ve played and that’s what I’m holding onto for the next five games.”