Scotland striker confident ahead of the SPFL Premiership match at Ibrox

Lawrence Shankland’s recent Hearts scoring exploits have not quite reached the heady days of 28-goal and 31-goal campaigns. He finished with nine last season, although four is a reasonable return from eight appearances so far this term. Shankland will always score goals, except now he has more assistance at Tynecastle Park.

Portuguese forward Claudio Braga and Burkina Faso internationalist Pierre Landry Kabore arrived over the summer, while Belgian striker Elton Kabangu converted his loan from Union Saint-Gilloise into a permanent transfer. Factor in prodigious teenager James Wilson and Hearts have a formidable array of talent to help Shankland. This is underlined by 27 goals scored across the Edinburgh club’s nine competitive outings this season.

“It’s good because you always want competition at the top end of the pitch,” said Shankland, who will again be an important player against Rangers at Ibrox this weekend. “We have brought in quality, everyone is chipping in with goals and assists. You need that, especially at a club like Hearts if you want to win games. It’s been good for us. The goals have been shared out among the front players and that’s what you want.

“I didn’t see it as a burden before, that was just the position we were in. We maybe didn’t have the quality in the final third to score goals across the board and it was a wee bit reliant on myself. Maybe you could call it a burden but I didn’t see it like that, I just took it on and tried to score as many as I could. But it always catches up with you eventually if you’re heavily reliant on one player.

“This season the squad is strong, the competition is good and that’s refreshing. It’s good to see other people scoring. It’s never been all about me scoring goals. I’m not like that, it’s about Hearts winning games. There were times when I couldn’t really miss and was scoring every week, which, of course, was enjoyable. But you’d happily cut the amount of goals in half if it meant the team won every week. Me scoring the goals wasn’t important in that sense, it was about the club winning.”

Braga in particular is endearing himself to the Tynecastle support with six goals in nine outings for his new club. His infectious energy and personality are making an impact on and off the field. The striking partnership with Shankland is still evolving as the players become more familiar with each other’s game.

“Claudio and I are getting there, it takes time when someone comes in,” explained Shankland. “You either click naturally or it takes a little bit of time to get used to each other’s game. Claudio are still working out what we want from each other. His enthusiasm is great, his runs take him all over the pitch. Sometimes you need an AirTag for him to find out where he is because he’s all over the place. That’s just his natural energy. It’s good and helps drive the team as well.”

11 Hearts transfers settling in but Rangers a different test

Braga is one of 11 summer recruits still adapting to life at Riccarton. Shankland joked that it is easy to lose count due to the number of new faces. “He’s a good addition. He’s bought into the fans saying things about him, he loves the attention and being at such a big club. He’s enjoying that element of it, but not just him. Alexandros Kyziridis and the other 15 signings we’ve made are all doing their bit,” laughed Shankland.

“They have been doing well in training and everyone is pushing to get into the team, so it’s good. The quality of the squad is great, the club has made a lot of additions and we have that real competition now. It’s important the squad is strong, we’ll need that through the season for when we pick up injuries. You need the quality to replace people.

“The standard of training has been good, the environment is good and everyone is enjoying coming into their work. It’s not been too difficult to help people settle, they’ve done that themselves. It’s a good changing room, it’s always been one people come in and settle quickly. Everyone is having a good laugh, working hard when we’re being serious - it’s all good.”

Preparing people for Ibrox is never straightforward if they haven’t experienced Rangers away. That is the case for many of Hearts’ new players and, as captain, Shankland will do his best to set the scene in their minds. “You address the things you feel you need to address,” he commented. “It might be some of their first experiences of playing in front of such a big crowd. It can be daunting but that’s where the experienced players, not just before the game but on the pitch, are there to give a helping hand.

“We have experience throughout the squad, they’re going there as part of a good team and we’re really positive about it. With the position we’re in, we are confident going anywhere at the minute. Obviously people look at these trips to Glasgow as a bit more, but it’s another 90-minute game for us. We have been winning and we’re feeling positive.”