Hearts latest from Riccarton with positive news on five players
Neil Critchley explained the position with injured men
Neil Critchley today reported positive news on five Hearts players working to return from various injuries. The head coach took training at Riccarton this morning ahead of Sunday’s Premiership trip to St Johnstone, and is hopeful that Australian midfielder Cammy Devlin will be available to play.
Devlin suffered concussion against St Mirren in a Scottish Cup tie almost two weeks ago and missed last weekend’s match with Rangers as a result. He has been following the required protocol since and is now back in training. “We're hopeful, Cammy is obviously following his return to training protocol and we'll keep monitoring and assessing him,” said Critchley. “He's got another 48 hours, so we're still hopeful that he'll make the game. Hopefully there are no complications, then he will be available.”
Midfielder Yan Dhanda is making progress from a hip flexor injury but won’t be fit to face St Johnstone. Defenders Stephen Kingsley and Craig Halkett are back running after hamstring complaints, and centre-back Frankie Kent is working back from a quad muscle problem.
READ MORE: St Johnstone v Hearts injury news - seven players out and one doubtful for McDiarmid Park
“Yan won't be ready [for Sunday], although he was on the grass doing some running for the second time,” said Critchley. “Kings, Halks and Frankie, they've all started to do a little bit of running, but they'll be a number of weeks away yet.”
The mood at Hearts’ training ground remains positive despite the 3-1 loss to Rangers. Critchley’s team were on an eight-match unbeaten run prior to last week and will look to recapture winning form in Perth. “Yes, even though we lost the game, I think the players drew a lot of confidence from the way that we played,” said Critchley. “It's not often you outperform Rangers in lots of different aspects, but the most important aspect is always the scoreline.
“You can be performance-happy and you're looking for two things, performance-happy and results-happy. One leads to the other, usually. It didn't lead to the right outcome of the game last Sunday, but I think we played very well. You need a little bit of fortune and you need things to go your way. We didn't get it. We had a little bit of misfortune against us with a couple of incidents and we weren't clinical when we created numerous good opportunities - and the goalkeeper obviously got man of the match for a reason.
“We took loads off from it. I think the players have had a lift from the way that we played the game, but we're also under no illusions that the St Johnstone game away from home will be a completely different game, as was the St Mirren game prior to Rangers. It was a completely different type of game.”
Hearts missed several good scoring chances against the Glasgow club and were left lamenting the profligacy. They have worked on finishing this week at training. “We always do. The strikers always do and the midfield players,” said Critchley. “We always do unit work or specific work and forwards always want to feel the confidence of hitting the back of the net.
“We split up. We've done that again today in training, finished off with a little bit of strikers doing a bit of final first stuff, defenders doing a bit of defending unit work. We always try and link it to how we want to play as a team or to how we're going to try and defend or attack against the opponent this weekend - and this week is no different.”
Asked about prospects of further contract talks with Lawrence Shankland, a story first reported by the Edinburgh News on Thursday, Critchley remained philosophical. “There's no difference from what I've been said previously or what's been reported previously. It's still the same,” he commented. “Lawrence is out of contract, as are a few other players, at the end of the season. Those talks will take place with Lawrence and those other players when we think it's the right thing.
“At the moment, Lawrence is concentrating on his football, being in the team, being the captain and playing an important role within the team, and we're concentrating on trying to win games of football. It's the same as what it was. I had a conversation with Lawrence when I first came in. I know the club have spoken to him previously. The situation is what it is. It's not changed and at the moment, we're just all carrying on as normal.”