Peter Haring hopes Hearts take advantage of Tynecastle in Sunday’s cinch Premiership game against leaders Rangers.
The Jambos grabbed a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Ibrox in October and this weekend welcome the champions, now under the stewardship of new boss Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, to Gorgie.
The Jambos are nine points behind leaders Rangers and five behind Celtic having played a game more than both of the Glasgow giants.
Midfielder Haring is always extra confident at home and insists there are also positives to be taken from the draw in Govan and from the recent narrow 1-0 defeat at Celtic Park, which followed an early-season win over the Hoops in Edinburgh.
The 28-year-old Austrian said: “Playing at home, especially against the Old Firm, Hibs or Aberdeen, the crowd gives you that extra motivation you don’t really need but you still get.
“Tynecastle, for big games, is an incredible atmosphere, very energetic and you would rather play home than away so we try to use that.
“We did really well at Ibrox, especially in the second half and we can take a lot from that. We struggled in the first half but in the second half we did really well.
“We controlled them really well and played the football that we wanted to play and obviously we got the result as well with a late draw so that felt pretty much like a win.
“It definitely gave us more confidence for playing the Old Firm, we know that we can take points off them.
“The last game at Parkhead was very unlucky and I think we deserved at least a point there.
“At home it is always different as I said before. I think we can be quite confident and we definitely hope to get at least a point or better, three, on Sunday.
“When you look at the table, we will stay close to the Old Firm with a win. That will definitely give us an extra boost for the coming games before the short break.
“But in general it won’t change too much, we know our targets for the season.
“We have beaten Celtic at home already this season and in the last two home games against Rangers we beat them so we know we can beat them, we just need to prove it.”
