Sam Nicholson back in Hearts' squad after four months out

Sam Nicholson will be back in Hearts' squad to face Raith

The winger has recovered from knee surgery in October and is now ready to return to competitive action in the Scottish Cup fourth-round replay at Tynecastle.

He is expected to start on the substitutes' bench but Hearts head coach Ian Cathro is excited at having him as an option within the squad.

Captain Perry Kitchen and defensive midfielder Krystian Nowak are both nursing slight knocks and will be assessed before kick-off, although the Ghanaian midfielder Prince Buaben is fit again after a calf problem.

"Prince is back in full training and he is available after his calf problem," said Cathro. "Sam is at the stage where he can be involved in the squad. He can start to be that option, although he's still got work ahead of him before he can play for a long period in a game. We can look at involving him tomorrow.

"From my short experience, he's a young man with hunger and drive, energy and talent. I look forward to seeing how we can use that.

"We have a couple of knocks from Sunday. Krystian has a bit of a strain so we need to see how he is in the morning. Perry also has a shoulder knock."