Hearts face Armand Gnanduillet dilemma as they try to protect new striker

Armand Gnanduillet scored twice on his Hearts debut at Raith Rovers.

The Frenchman scored twice in a 30-minute debut at Raith Rovers on Tuesday to push for a starting role against Dunfermline this weekend. However, Riccarton coaching staff are cautious about overplaying the 28-year-old.

He hasn’t started a match since November 28 after falling out of the team at former club Altay in Turkey. He also did not train for a month before signing an 18-month Hearts contract on Monday.

Manager Robbie Neilson was delighted with the new recruit’s contribution on his first outing as he scored a rebound and a header in the 4-0 win at Stark’s Park.

Having watched other players beset by injury problems, Neilson is determined to take the correct course of action for Gnanduillet if that means easing him into the side gradually.

“We have to be careful with him because he hadn’t trained with us at all before Tuesday,” Neilson told the Evening News. “His last game was a few weeks ago and he’s hardly trained. He left Turkey just before Christmas so he’s had a full month of doing nothing, other than running by himself.

“He is a fit boy and physically he is in brilliant condition. We just need to be careful that we aren’t pushing him too hard too soon. Will he start on Saturday? Potentially. He will certainly be available.”

With three goals in his last two games, Liam Boyce is also making himself difficult to leave out. The Northern Ireland forward produced a fine finish to open the scoring in Kirkcaldy.

“Boycie is banging the goals in and I thought he was different class on Tuesday,” added Neilson. “We asked him to step up to the plate, link the game and take his chances. He did that.

“I thought his goal was great – he links the play, gets the ball on the turn, plays a one-two and it’s a brilliant finish.

“I was delighted to go there and win 4-0 because we started the game better than we had done for a number of weeks, which was important. We should have scored four or five in the first half.

“Even when Raith went down to ten men, you are always making sure you are solid defensively to get a clean sheet because it’s been a while since we’ve had one.

“We have lost sloppy goals in the last few games but on Tuesday Raith didn’t have any shots on target. It’s important we continue that.”

Hearts still hope to sign a midfielder and a defender before the transfer window closes. “Hopefully, we are still working on a couple. I think we need a bit more,” admitted Neilson.

“We want to produce a really good team here that is going to excite people. I think we did that in periods of the game at Raith.

“They made themselves more difficult to break down later in the game so we had to be patient. It’s a good three points for us. Now it’s all about Saturday against Dunfermline.”

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