Scotland striker speaks out after a vital Scottish Premiership win

Passion coursed through the Hearts players at Dens Park like a river bursting its banks. There was Craig Gordon’s remarkable defiance in goal, Craig Halkett’s aggression in defence, Stuart Findlay’s doggedness alongside him, plus others like Cammy Devlin and Jamie McCart battling like trojans to see out a vital win with 10 men. There was also Lawrence Shankland, a captain eager to play a bigger part than he was given.

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes substituted the striker and winger Alexandros Kyziridis on 70 minutes to introduce fresh energy to a tiring team. Shankland didn’t agree with the decision and exchanged words with McInnes in the technical area after being replaced by Landry Kabore. The manager didn’t engage too much but responded sufficiently to stop the situation escalating. Shankland’s arms were out by his side as he appeared to question why he was taken off, but McInnes made it clear who is in charge. Shankland then sat down in the dugout looking less than pleased.

It isn’t the way Hearts would want a substitution to play out but emotions run strong in the heat of the moment. Particularly in a team top of the league and fighting to see out a 1-0 win after seeing their goalkeeper sent off. Shankland sat watching Dundee throw the proverbial kitchen sink at their visitors on Sunday and, like everyone else, marvelled at 43-year-old Gordon’s miraculous late save to deny Dundee’s Emile Acquah a certain equaliser.

Once he calmed down, the Scotland striker was honest enough to acknowledge that he let frustration get the better of him when he came off. He spoke exclusively to the Edinburgh News to explain his reaction towards McInnes. “It’s just passionate people wanting to win football matches. You can’t risk that good feeling going forward but I was in the wrong, so that’s it,” smiled Shankland. “That’s just me. Nobody likes to come off the pitch, but I’ve not been the only person to come off the pitch this season. I should have just kept my mouth shut and sat down. Lesson learned.”

Without that hunger and desire, Hearts may not be sitting three points clear at the top of the William Hill Premiership table. There is a determination to stay there for the remaining 17 games and pull off a historic title win. It is a step-by-step process, though. “Of course. We are hungry to win games,” said Shankland. “We have ambitions and we have an amount of games where we want to pick up points. First and foremost, we want to get to that benchmark. We know that will put us in a good position in the league. Anything above that which we can achieve in terms of wins will put us in an even better position. We just need to keep digging in and getting results. We’re doing well at the minute, putting in performances that warrant three points every week and that’s what he need to keep doing.”

They certainly earned those three points on Tayside. Alexander Schwolow’s red card moments before half-time gave Gordon a chance he literally grasped with both hands. The second half became more of a backs-against-the-wall affair for Hearts as time wore on. They needed every ounce of resilience to deal with seemingly-relentless Dundee cross balls. It was the biggest test of character for the league leaders so far, and they refused to fold under pressure.

“That’s it. These situations arise throughout a season and you find yourself in a difficult situation,” said Shankland. “We managed to get the lead, which helps. It gives you something to hold on to. We were quite comfortable in our shape. We knew we had to dig in and work hard. Our units had to be tight to try to see the game out. We didn’t carry much threat at the other end but we were resigned to seeing the game out from probably 70 minutes onwards. There was a lot of Dundee and we were defending but we were comfortable out of possession, in our shape and sticking together to grind out a result.

“The game becomes more difficult at half-time after we go down to 10 men. People were probably looking at it, thinking: ‘That could be a chance for Hearts to drop points.’ That wasn’t how we saw it. We were pretty adamant at half-time that we had enough about us to go and get a result. We would have liked a second goal on the counter-attack to make it more comfortable. In terms of what we had to do defensively, sticking to our shape, midfielders working hard, it was a really good and disciplined second half - and a well-earned three points.”

The victory was important as much for perception as any other reason. Hearts showed the rest of the Premiership that they have the bottle and won’t succumb easily. “The only chance you get to show that is, unfortunately, when you go down to 10 men. Thankfully, we don’t need to do it too often,” commented Shankland. “It’s another question you can get asked as a team: ‘Have you got that about you, to go and see out an important result?’ We managed to do that on Sunday. We dug in and got a well-deserved three points.

“We’ve got Craigy to thank at the end for an absolute wonder save. He got a big reception in the changing room at the end. It’s no surprise. It’s not the first time I’ve seen him make a save like that. At the time, I was like, ‘wow,’ because I thought it was past him. He’s got that big arm out to claw the ball out of the net. I’d imagine [Dundee head coach] Steven Pressley has seen him do that a few times over the years. At his age, to be coming on and pulling off saves like that is really impressive. Credit to him, he always stays ready. He does things properly and he’s really professional in his work. When an opportunity arises, whether it be at Hearts or with Scotland, he has been ready. That’s what he can give you.”

What he gave Hearts was a guarantee of three points after Claudio Braga’s superb first-half goal. There is not much time to wallow in satisfaction, however. St Mirren are due at Tynecastle Park on Wednesday before Falkirk visit for a Saturday night Scottish Cup tie. A busy week lies ahead. “It’s quite a good thing,” opined Shankland. “Some of the weeks have been quite long because our games have been moved to Sundays. Some weeks have dragged in with a lot of training, so it’s actually nice to get a midweek game in. Then we have a home tie in the Scottish Cup, which we’re looking forward to. It was important to get three points away from home on Sunday and take them back to Tynecastle. Hopefully we can get more this week.”

Hearts have beaten St Mirren only three times in their last 12 meetings. “St Mirren are always a hard challenge for us,” said Shankland. “Sometimes, certain teams seem to enjoy playing against certain other teams. We seem to be one of the teams that St Mirren enjoy playing against. They always make it difficult for us. Obviously, they aren’t in the best of moments. Having seen their manager’s reaction after the game the other day, we expect a response from them. They are probably looking at Wednesday’s game as a big one for them to get that big result and turn their league season around. We need to make sure that isn’t the case.”