Hearts captain Colin Cameron tells Rob Robertson that the signs are good for the Tynecastle team ahead of Sunday's Scottish Cup quarter-final meeting with Rangers.

NO doubt all the talk this week in Scotland will have been about the Old Firm game on Wednesday evening, but none of our squad actually had the chance to watch the match on television.

That's because we have spent a few days down at The Belfry in the Midlands and the game wasn't shown down here and we had to make do with the Chelsea against Marseille game instead.

We did keep a check on what was going on by looking at Ceefax and saw Rod Wallace's goal later on in a highlights programme, but that was about it. To be honest, I would be very surprised if Jim Jefferies sat us down to watch the whole Old Firm match on video before Sunday, because obviously we all know what Rangers can do without having to be reminded of it.

Also, Jim left our training camp early to go to Parkhead for the game and I'm sure he'll know exactly what he wants us to do individually against Rangers and will have a full file on how he wants to tactically play the game.

I felt before the Old Firm game it would make no difference to the outcome of our Scottish Cup tie whether Rangers won, lost, or drew the game. Nothing happened on Wednesday evening to make me change that view, but obviously they will be on a high after winning at Parkhead, but we are in a similar frame of mind after a good run of results.

I believe that Dick Advocaat has one of the best track records in the game and he will manage to bring them down to earth and make them concentrate on their match against us and put their win over Celtic to the back of their minds.

Despite that, the Hearts squad have a good feeling about Sunday's game and, if you are looking for omens, you don't have to look any further than our trip to The Belfry, where they have played the Ryder Cup in the past.

The last time we did that was before the Scottish Cup final against Rangers, which we won 2-1, and I was lucky enough to score the first goal from the penalty spot.

We have been doing morning and afternoon training sessions down here at a place that is owned by the National Farmer's Union, which, although you wouldn't expect it, is a magnificent centre and was where the England squad went through their paces before Euro '96.

I'm obviously not going to give away any trade secrets, but we have been working on one or two things this week and everything is looking good. We even had a visit from our old team-mate, David Weir, who travelled down from Merseyside to meet us and wished us all the best for Sunday.

His partner, Fiona, is pregnant, so we're all very pleased for the big man, who is looking forward to becoming a father for the first time. On the pitch, he says he is loving his football with Everton and everything seems to be going well for him.

If I can, if that's possible, look at the Rangers team from just a professional footballer's point of view, I would single out Giovanni van Bronckhorst as one of their top players and one of the best players in the British game.

As a fellow midfielder, I have always been impressed by his movement off the ball and the way he doesn't waste it too much. They also have great players throughout their squad, but here at Tynecastle we also have the best squad we have ever had since I arrived and I think we will do well against them.

People will obviously make Rangers favourites going into the game and that's okay by us. The underdog tag is fine and what some people might forget is that the last time we went to Ibrox it took an injury-time deflected goal from Jorg Albertz to beat us. We had a lot of possession in that game and we hope to do the same thing again on Sunday.

If we do beat Rangers, I would expect that the bookies would install us as favourites in the competition and we would have to live with the pressure that brings. With either Partick Thistle or Ayr United certain to be in at least one semi-final, the competition is really opening up and I'm sure all the other teams left in the quarter-finals were delighted we got Rangers and not them.

Within the club, all the players have been pleased to learn that Gilles Rousset has signed a new one-year contract. He may be getting on a bit, but he is an incredibly enthusiastic person and great to have about the club and will be keen to challenge Antti Niemi for the No.1 jersey.

From my point of view, I feel I am playing well just now and obviously a good performance in front of a live television audience against Rangers wouldn't do my international aspirations any harm at all and I am keen to get a place in Craig Brown's starting line-up.

I realise that it will be a hard game for the club, but if we put in a disciplined performance we can get a result. I said at the outset that I felt we had a squad capable of going all the way to the final and nothing has made me change my mind on that.