Hearts to decide fate of Jon McLaughlin

McLaughlin, 29, arrived at Riccarton last Thursday to begin a week-long trial after leaving English Championship side Burton at the end of last season. He trained with Hull City over the summer but wasn’t given a deal.

Hearts are in the market for a new goalkeeper to compete with Jack Hamilton in the first-team squad. Interim coach Jon Daly remains in charge whilst Tynecastle officials conduct their search for a new head coach, and he is watching McLaughlin closely this week. The club’s goalkeeping coach, Paul Gallacher, will also be asked for his opinion before any decision is taken. Daly explained the situation to the Evening News. “Jon’s done fine so far. He was in for a couple of days last week but it was difficult to see him because we were doing a lot of match preparation for Saturday’s game at Ibrox,” said the Irishman.

“It was hard for me to get a close look at him because he was working with Paul Gallacher, the goalkeeping coach, and our other keepers.

“I’ll have a chat with Paul over the next few days and see how he thinks Jon has done because he’s the goalkeeping expert. The plan was do have him in again and get a closer look at him and then see where we go from there.”