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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Steven Mair

Hearts fans and the significance of 'medicine time' as Robbie Neilson warns Dundee his players won't forget vote fiasco

"Take your medicine."

The words of Roy MacGregor of Ross County, who took a dim view of Hearts and Partick Thistle's legal plight a year and a half ago.

But that utterance is now synonymous with the disdain the Tynecastle faithful felt from other clubs at the time, and few more so than Dundee.

And that's why this weekend's meeting with the Dens Park club at a packed Tynecastle - which may well sell out come Saturday afternoon - is so massive.

James McPake's side might have just notched their first Premiership win of the season against Aberdeen but it will be a hard ask to come to an unbeaten Hearts side.

The Jambos faithful expect a big win in their first meeting against Dundee with fans back since the infamous vote — and have hence dubbed the fixture 'medicine time'.

Even the club Twitter admin previously aimed a dig at their rivals using the phrase as they congratulated Partick for winning League One and, like the Gorgie side, returning to the league they dropped out of.

Boss Robbie Neilson certainly hasn't been in the mood to play down the significance of the fixture either.

He's intending to send his charges out with Dee chair John Nelms' changed vote, which sent Hearts tumbling into the Championship with eight games outstanding, ringing in their ears.

He told the Edinburgh Evening News: "We know Dundee will be up for it coming to Tynecastle.

"We are unbeaten so far and Dundee will want to be the first team to win against us, but we have our own motivations as well.

"Not only in the league this season, but the historical stuff last year is something that we need to make sure we remember going into the game. I think there will be a good atmosphere on the day, let’s say that.

"Hopefully we can match that on the pitch. We played Dundee in the Championship at Tynecastle last season and got two good results but there were no fans there.

"Even without supporters, you still felt the build-up externally. Bumping into fans, you knew it was an important one for them and I’m sure it will be the same on Saturday."

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