«It's the first time in six or seven years that there's been this sense of optimism and that's been reflected in the season ticket sales.»

«At times in the game we played with great confidence. In the last three games under Walter the commitment and the organisation and defensive aspects have improved greatly but the one thing which maybe hasn't been too great has been our retention of the ball. I felt that was much better against Austria.»

«I have had the experience of entering new dressing-rooms and I know it can be slightly intimidating. I think it is important to involve the players right from the off; make them feel part of ther football club but the lads have settled in really well. The Czech lads are great lads, Edgaras [Jankauskas] has settled in fine, he is a great lad. There is a good feeling among the dressing room but there always is. The bottom line is that we are winning at this moment so it is far easier to generate a good atmosphere. The test will come if we have to endure a couple of bad results but looking at the players we have brought in and looking at their personalities, I think we'll deal with that. That will be the real test.»

«That is an aspect that players looking in from the outside at the Old Firm don't realise is difficult to live with. If we continue to get results these expectancy levels will continue to grow. That will be new to a lot of us and something we will have to learn to handle.»

«[To match this sequence on Saturday, Hearts now require to prove themselves at home to Rangers, who are eight points adrift of them. The encounter offers the Tynecastle men an opportunity to prove beyond all doubt that they are the team the Old Firm have to beat, as opposed to the other way around. Eminently achievable, the manner in which they got the job done against Inverness without producing football to purr over made the win reminiscent of the sort the Glasgow clubs have become past masters at knocking out on their way to title successes.] If we had lost there would have been pressure on us to get a result next week, ... But now the pressure is on Rangers.»

«For me, the most important thing is actually maintaining our form and winning against the teams outside the Old Firm. Yes, beating Rangers would be a huge psychological boost for us, but, in the long term, over the entire season, the really important thing is to sustain the success against the others.»

«It's rather surprising, because we have had a lot of good performances,»

«We don't fear you.»

«There is a fantastic spirit in the camp and we have no fear about Saturday,»

«There is no doubt in our minds that we can get a result against them. If you can win seven games back to back in the SPL then you must have the belief that you can continue that run and that's what we'll be trying to do.»