Hearts injury update: Lawrence Shankland absence explained as trio face race to be fit for Celtic Scottish Cup tie

Robbie Neilson has explained the absence of Lawrence Shankland against Celtic and five other changes to his starting line-up, but insists the skipper will be back for the Scottish Cup.

Shankland missed the 3-1 Scottish Premiership defeat at Celtic Park with a niggling injury along with Robert Snodgrass and Alex Cochrane, who has a minor hip issue. The Hearts boss said before the game that his skipper would be “touch and go” for Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle Park against the same opponents, but admitted after the match that he would be “fine”.

“A lot of them are enforced,” Neilson said when asked about the six changes he made to his starting XI. “We’ve got a number of players, Like Lawrence, Robert Snodgrass and Alex Cochrane who picked up injuries. We’ve had a wee bug in the group as well. Then there’s one or two that we have rested as well. It’s an opportunity for the rest of he squad. They’ve been itching to play.”

Asked on BBC Sportsound if Shankland, Cochrane and Snodgrass would be fit to return on Saturday, Neilson replied: “All three, I’m hoping will come back. Out of the three Lawrence is the most touch and go. The others will be fine. The other ones are illness.”

Lawrence Shankland was missing from the Hearts starting line-up against Celtic. Picxure: Craig Foy / SNS

Hearts lost goalscorer Josh Ginnelly with a minor injury before half time and replacement Yutaro Oda was later taken off with a foot knock. He is to be scanned in the coming days and will likely miss Saturday’s cup tie at Tynecastle.

“Ginnelly will be fine,” Neilson confirmed. “He wanted to play on, but I took him off as a precaution. He will be fine for Saturday. Lawrence Shankland is the same. If it was a cup final he would have played. We felt another couple of days’ rest and he should be okay. The only one missing will probably be Yutaro Oda. He got a kick on the foot and is going for a scan.”

Stephen Humphrys missed out against the champions in Glasgow as he continues to recover from a knock he sustained a couple of weeks ago. Peter Haring is back in full training but won’t be available until after the international break. Liam Boyce and Beni Baningime are running again at training as they return from knee operations but neither will be back before May. Craig Halkett, Craig Gordon and Gary Mackay-Steven are long-term absentees.

Hearts set up in a 5-3-2 formation against Celtic, with Nathaniel Atkinson and Andy Halliday in the wing back roles. Stephen Kingsley, who had a bug earlier in the week, was named on the bench along with Barrie McKay and Michael Smith. Toby Sibbick returned in central defence. Zander Clark was named captain in just his 14th appearance for the club.

Neilson insisted he picked a team to get a result and was not prioritising he Scottish Cup. “The league is important for us,” added the Hearts boss. “Third place guarantees group stage European football. We came here with the strongest team we felt we could put out for this game. We needed energy and legs in the midfield and we felt a three in there would give us that.”