Andy Halliday and James Hill return against Rangers as Hearts wait on two key men

Andy Halliday and James Hill are both fit to return when Hearts host Rangers at Tynecastle Park on Wednesday, manager Robbie Neilson confirmed today.

However, the Edinburgh club are less certain about the availability of Cammy Devlin and Michael Smith. Those two will be assessed prior to kick-off on Wednesday evening before Neilson names his team.

Halliday has missed the last three games after suffering concussion against St Mirren earlier this month. The midfielder trained at Riccarton yesterday and is poised to return against his former club. Hill, the on-loan Bournemouth defender, has also been out with concussion since Hearts’ 3-0 Scottish Cup win against Hibs.

Devlin was substituted with a tight hamstring in the first half of Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Livingston, while Smith missed that match with a twisted ankle. “We are just waiting on Devlin and Smith now. They will be given until the last minute to see where they are and see if they are available or not. They did a wee bit of training indoors on Tuesday so they will be touch-and-go,” Neilson told the Evening News.

“Devlin’s issue is a hamstring, although he said he could carry on against Livingston on Sunday. With these things, if you carry on then you can end up out for an extended period. We took him off and it has settled down quite a bit. It just depends on how he does overnight. Halliday is available and Hill is available.”

Sitting third in the Premiership, Hearts meet second-placed Rangers hoping to extend a ten-game unbeaten run. Neilson does not see the fixture as a way to measure his team’s recent progress.

“Can we perform against Rangers and get a result? If we do, it’s another one ticked off. Then it’s on to Dundee United,” he said. “I don’t see the Rangers game as a yardstick. We believe we can get three points against them at home. It’s about turning up and doing it. In a night game at Tynecastle, if we can get the place rocking and take the game to them, we will have the backing of nearly 20,000 fans and the intensity of the place.

“Rangers haven’t changed massively in their formation under Michael Beale. They are still playing a 4-3-3, maybe a wee bit differently with their wider players. Other than that, it’s still kind of the same set-up as previously.

Andy Halliday trained with Hearts at Riccarton on Tuesday.

“There are areas we will look at in their team and areas we think we can get through. We play a set style of football. We want to see if we can take the way we play and do it against a good. Can we influence it and dominate it the way we have previous games?”

Robert Snodgrass and Josh Ginnelly are both pushing to return to Hearts’ starting line-up. “We will put our strongest team out to try and win the game,” said Neilson. “On Sunday we left some guys out because you had the surface and we had a wee bug going about. We felt that, with three games coming in a week, it wasn't right to put certain ones in.

“We had to make a few changes, plus we had James and Halliday out. Now, other than the long-term injured guys, we are almost at full strength if we can get Cammy and Michael ready. So we need to pick the best team we can get and try to win the game.”