Brora Rangers v Hearts: Team news, starting XI, match odds, how to watch live

Hearts travel to Brora Rangers on Tuesday looking to book a place in the third round of the Scottish Cup.

Hearts will travel to Dudgeon Park, home of Brora Rangers. Picture: SNS

The match, originally scheduled for January, while finally be played as Stranraer await the victors. Brora are at a disadvantage having only managed a couple of friends and a handful of training sessions in the last couple of months as football was suspended below the Championship due to the spread of the coronavirus in Scotland.

Team news: Stephen Kingsley is likely to miss the match through injury after suffering a groin complaint that forced him off during Saturday’s match. The game is also expected to come too soon for Steven Naismith, who was unable to recover in time for the trip to Arbroath. Hearts will also be without Craig Gordon, Liam Boyce and Michael Smith, all of whom are on international duty. Andy Halliday is suspended. Josh Ginnelly, John Souttar and Jamie Brandon remain long-term absentees.

Possible XI: Stewart; Haring, Halkett, Popescu; Mackay-Steven, McEneff, Irving, Walker, White; Gnanduillet, Kastaneer

What the manager said: “We will just have to shuffle the pack a wee bit for Tuesday. We will look at it and pick a team that we think will win the game.”

Match details: Tuesday, March 23. Kick-off 7.45pm. Dungeon Park, Brora.

How to watch: The home side are offering a pay-per-view livestream of the match, priced at £12. You can purchase here.

Last meeting: This is the first competitive meeting between the clubs. Brora have played the other half of Edinburgh as recently as this season. The Highland side gave a good account of themselves in a League Cup meeting at Easter Road, losing 3-1 and making Hibs battle for the win.

Key stat: Hearts have scored just nine times in their last eight games: an average of just 1.125 goals per game. They struck 47 times in the first 17 games this season, which is an average of 2.76 goals per game.

Referee: Peter Stuart will take charge of his first ever competitive match involving Hearts. The whistler has mainly been in charge of League One and League Two games in recent seasons, though he has officiated five Championship games this term, including Saturday’s 1-0 win for Inverness CT away to Dunfermline Athletic.

Match odds: Brora 14/1, draw 8/1, Hearts 1/14

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