Hearts injury update on Cammy Devlin amid Edinburgh derby absence as possible return game set
Hearts have been hit with another injury blow ahead of the Edinburgh derby.
Derek McInnes has revealed the latest on Cammy Devlin’s new Hearts injury - and when he could return.
Fears emerged during the week that the Australian international, who only returned from a lengthy lay-off after a lower leg injury last month, was a doubt for the Edinburgh derby. Hearts need a win to ensure they are clear in first place come the end of the first weekend of post split fixtures top, but will have to do so without Devlin, after he was one of four changes from the team that defeated Motherwell last time out.
Boss McInnes, who confirmed pre-match that versatile Oisin McEntee is out for the rest of the season, has now addressed the latest when it comes to the Aussie’s injury. Missing Harry Milne, Tomas Magnusson and Ageu into the bargain, Devlin has picked up a slight strain, but he’s hopeful of the battler making the May 4 clash versus Rangers.
Why is Cammy Devlin now playing during Hibs vs Hearts?
Speaking pre-match on Sportsound, the Hearts manager said: "Cammy (Devlin) has picked up a wee strain. We're obviously disappointed but hopefully he's available for next week. We've changed shape just to try and make sure we're solid enough but carry enough goal threat. I felt Kabore's physicality is quite important to us, and with Braga and Shankland it's hard to squeeze that all in.
"We try and shut the players away from all [the hype] and focus on training. We have to make reference to it during the week, but we want to thrive and work for a club that has this important a fixture, particularly at this stage of the season. A positive result today, in the first game of the split, can really set us up."
McInnes added on Sky Sports: “Individually we need to make sure our own game is on point. You don’t need to always be brilliant but you need to be ready and competitive. Both teams have good quality and we need to negate their quality where we can.
“We have got to deal with injuries and we’ve had more than our fair share which is far from ideal. We wanted to try and be as positive as we could coming here. We wanted to try and be bold. We are mindful of Hibs being at home, have their own motivation, but ours is clear.”
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