Beni Baningime's fitness plus a Hearts suspension as youngsters prepare to be involved v Petrocub
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Captain Lawrence Shankland returns from suspension for Hearts’ decisive UEFA Conference League tie against Petrocub on Thursday evening, however defender Adam Forrester is suspended. The teenager has received three yellow cards in the competition and is therefore banned for the match at Tynecastle Park.
The Hearts head coach Neil Critchley revealed that influential midfielder Beni Baningime has an outside chance of being involved after a knee problem. Frankie Kent, Stephen Kingsley, Calem Nieuwenhof and Gerald Taylor are all missing through long-term injuries.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“Shanks will be back, he's eligible,” said the Englishman. “Obviously, we're missing Frankie and Kings. Beni has done a little bit of training in the last 24 to 48 hours. That'll be a decision on whether we think Beni is ready to go and be included.
“Adam Forrester is obviously suspended and Musa [Drammeh] is not eligible. So there's another two. The squad will be utilised. We've got a busy period coming up, but you can never take your eye off the next game because that's the most important one. And this is obviously a really important game.”
When asked how far away young players like Callum Sandilands and Macaulay Tait are from featuring in this match, Critchley smiled and offered a two-word response. “Not far,” he said.
Petrocub are the first Moldovan side to play against Hearts and are already out of the competition, sitting second bottom of the 36-team Conference League with only one point so far. They have a strong defensive record and don’t concede many goals. They lost 1-0 at home against Real Betis last week and drew 1-1 away at Istanbul Basaksehir last month.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“If you look at their last few performances and their results, even though their league is obviously finished, they've not conceded many goals in the league,” said Critchley. “They're tough to play against. They're not easy to break down. They're well coached. They've got an experienced coach who quite clearly can tinker with certain areas or certain personnel within their system to make it difficult for you.
“They like to have the ball. They like to play as well. They've got some good technicians in the team. We're not underestimating them at all. We give full respect to everyone, whoever we're playing, home or away. Our process of preparing for games doesn't change. So, we're prepared as if we're playing Celtic, Copenhagen, Rangers. It's the same. But always with the basic fundamentals of who we want to be as well.”
As Hearts look to put domestic difficulties to one side and focus on a huge European opportunity, Critchley rejected any notion that Petrocub should be considered ‘minnows’. “No. You can obviously look at their position and look at the points that they've got and underestimate them. We certainly won't be doing that,” he stressed. “There's no give-me's in European football. They're there for a reason.
“If you look at their recent results, they've been very close games, very tight games. If we're just expecting to turn up and win and roll them over, then it won't happen. It’s not going to happen like that. You have to earn everything that you get on the pitch. And we'll have to enforce the way that we want to play onto them. We have to make sure our cause is greater than theirs and that has to be reflected on the pitch. You want a quick start, obviously, to get the crowd, get everybody on board.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThursday is also the 100th European fixture in Hearts’ history. It comes with the club sitting bottom of the Scottish Premiership after Sunday’s 1-0 loss at 10-man Kilmarnock. Victory against Petrocub would be a significant morale boost as it would propel them to the Conference League’s knockout round play-off - and extend their European run beyond Christmas for the first time in 35 years.
“That's nice. I didn't know that. It would make it a little bit sweeter if we were to do that then on the 100th appearance,” said Critchley. “We can only focus on the opposition we're playing against and taking care of our business. At this moment in time, it's in our hands. If we win, then we will qualify, which was obviously the aim for the club before we started in the competition.”
“We have the opportunity to progress in a European competition, we want to get into the latter stages and progress. We have an opportunity to do that. It's in our hands. We were going through all the possible permutations and all kinds of scenarios yesterday and we gave up after about five minutes and just thought: ‘Let's just concentrate on doing our best to win the game.’
“If we do that, then we can put that to rest for a few months and look to then improve our domestic form, because we've got a really important period coming up with lots of games in a short period of time. I said that to the players when we got back together after the game against Kilmarnock at the weekend: ‘How often do you get opportunities like this in your career?’
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“They go by so quickly. I know you've spoken to Craig Gordon and I'm sure he's thinking it wasn't long ago since he was 18 and about to start on his career. It goes by in a flash and you can't miss these opportunities. It's a great chance for us at home to get the points on the board that we need to progress. And then it gives us all something to look forward to. I think it will give everyone a lift, give us a boost going into what is an important period of games for us in the league.”