Hearts happy to make steady progress
Robbie Neilson claims Hearts are happy to fly under the radar as the Old Firm derby takes centre stage this weekend.
The bulk of media attention will be on Celtic Park on Saturday lunchtime as Celtic and Rangers battle it out in the first Ladbrokes Premiership meeting between the teams.
Brendan Rodgers' men, who have a game in hand on their opponents, can stretch their lead ahead of their city rivals to four points with victory on Saturday.
However, Neilson hopes third-placed Hearts can take advantage of any potential stalemates in Glasgow by winning against Hamilton to go joint-top at the summit.
"It's great, everyone wants to see the big games in Scotland whether that's Rangers and Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen or Hearts and Celtic," the Tynecastle head coach said.
"You want these big games. It's generated that publicity again all over the world so it's great for the nation.
"What would be a good result for Hearts? Probably a draw to be honest with you. A draw and we win then we'll get ourselves going.
"We're trying to stay under the radar and pick up as many points as we can and see where we are.
"I think with Rangers and Celtic both being in the league that is where a lot of the focus is this year and we accept that that is the way it is in Scotland, but we just have to make sure we keep progressing as a club."
Hamilton manager Martin Canning feels his team have emerged stronger from the transfer window.
On-loan Norwich goalkeeper Remi Matthews has compensated for the loss of Michael McGovern in the opposite direction while Dan Seaborne and Georgios Sarris have come in as competition for skipper Michael Devlin in central defence.
With Massimo Donati making a positive start in midfield, Accies also have options up front with Rakish Bingham and Shaka Roy replacing Carlton Morris and Oumar Diaby from last season's pool.
Canning has been frustrated in his attempts to bring in a full-back ahead of the Hearts game, following the departure of Antons Kurakins, but Grant Gillespie and Darren Lyon offer consistency in the back four.
Accies have made a decent start to the campaign with victory over Ross County following impressive points at Ibrox and Dens Park and Canning is confident about the season ahead.
"I think we've recruited well again," he said. "At the start, we were probably slightly weaker in terms of our starting 11, but the squad was probably stronger.
"I think now our starting 11 is as strong if not stronger than last year and our squad is probably stronger again as well. So I'm happy.
"If I could, I would still maybe look to bring in a full-back. We had two or three things happening over the last couple of weeks and none of them have come off, which is the case sometimes, out work hard on things and for whatever they don't work out.
"We will keep an eye out to see if another one is available and if it's the right person, we will look to get them in.
"But at the minute the two full-backs we have got, Gills and Darren Lyon, are playing really, really well.
"So it's got to be someone that can come in and do us justice in terms of coming into the team."
Source: PAR
