ROBBIE Neilson has attributed Andy Halliday’s impressive form for Hearts to the return of fans to stadiums and predicted that playing in front of a sell-out crowd at Parkhead today will bring out the best in the former Rangers midfielder.

Halliday has helped the Gorgie club win their first six games of the 2021/22 campaign – including their opening Premiership match against Celtic at Tynecastle a fortnight ago – and has scored two goals.

The 29-year-old spent five seasons with his boyhood heroes at Ibrox before moving to the capital last year and is sure to be targeted for abuse by the home support in the Premier Sports Cup match in Glasgow this afternoon.

However, Neilson feels the experienced player will thrive in the hostile environment – no away fans will be allowed through the turnstiles – and help the visitors to maintain their positive start to the new term.

“When Andy came in he hadn’t done a pre-season,” he said. “It was October by the time he arrived at the club. So he wasn’t quite up to speed.

“And I also think he was one of the guys who was hindered a wee bit by there not being any fans. He’s a guy who likes to feed off supporters. There’s a number of guys like that - and you get some who don’t like it so it works both ways.

“But I think Andy is definitely one who feeds off it, and you’re starting to see the best of him now. Just having fans there and having something to prove is huge for Andy, so I’m sure he’ll be ready for the Celtic game.”

Neilson added: “I’m looking for more from everyone, but I think he can give us more. You saw against St Mirren he can get in the box and score goals. 

“Andy for me is a player who can play in a number of different positions, he has played in the middle, he has played as a sitter, he has played wing back and full back for us. So he covers a number of areas, and he does it every well.”

Neilson himself has welcomed the relaxing of Covid-19 social distancing restrictions and thinks having crowds back has helped Hearts, who won promotion from the Championship last season, flourish on their return to the top flight.

“It’s night and day,” he said. “It’s the reason we play football. It’s more difficult to communicate with the players, but I think they have more energy, there’s less lulls in the game.

“When there was no fans you would have sporadic points where something happened and the game kicks off for five to 10 minutes and then it would die a death again. It wasn’t great to watch. But when you get fans back the games get bigger.

“You saw that against Celtic. I said after the game, if that had been last season it would probably have finished 1-1. Both teams would have petered out towards the end of the game. But when you get the fans on your side and you get that feeling coming from the stands it definitely pushes the players on.”

Neilson, who welcomed back Scotland centre half John Souttar after a lengthy injury lay-off in April, has switched to a three man defence this season and has been delighted with how well it has functioned.

He has confidence that Hearts can handle the threat posed by Kyogo Furuhashi, the Japanese striker who Celtic landed for £4.6m last month, and his team mates in the Premier Sports Cup second round match at Parkhead today.

“So far, so good,” he said. “It’s a work in progress. We work on it constantly here. Like anything, you need to keep working at it. But I think it suits the players we have at the moment.

“We used it the first game of last season when John Souttar was fit and the hope was we would have a back three. But obviously we lost John and we changed things a wee bit. But we did it towards the end of last season and the plan coming into this season was to try and get that three.

“We just looked at the players we had in the squad. We’re not at a level yet where we can really pick and choose. We have to look at the players we have, find the best system to get them playing well and then stick at it and try to add round about it.

“We felt the players we had last season suit the style we are playing now. It’s going well so far but we will change it at times during the season. Nothing is set in stone.”