Steven Naismith believes the number of supporters Heart of Midlothian will have at Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers justifies their demand for a 50/50 split of tickets.

The Jambos were given an allocation of almost 21,000 after making what they described as “an extremely strong argument” to be awarded an equal share of seats for the showpiece match at the national stadium.

One condition of the agreement of an even split was that the Edinburgh club would cover the cost of any briefs they failed to sell, raising the possibility of a six-figure bill if their fans did not roll up in strong numbers.

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However, Hearts are expecting to be backed by more than 18,000 of their supporters – almost double what they took to their 2012 semi-final win over Celtic – meaning any cost to the club is likely to be nominal.

“We’ll have 18,500-19,000,” said Naismith. If we didn’t fight for the 50/50 split, we wouldn’t have that many fans there.

“We’ve got more now than we were originally expecting to get which is good.”

Hearts have never beaten Rangers at Hampden, and Naismith admitted his side must reward their supporters’ faith by putting on a performance that engages them from the outset on Sunday.

“Like every home game, we need to start the game well to get the fans up for it and if we can get ourselves into a good position, the fans can then help make that push to get us over the line with a win,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to it. It will be a good occasion with two teams that will be backed heavily.”