Robbie Neilson has provided an injury update on Hearts trio Lawrence Shankland, Robert Snodgrass and Stephen Humphrys.
The Jambos had to do without the key players in the Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat to Celtic at Tynecastle as all focus now turns towards finishing best of the rest behind the Hoops and Rangers and booking another ticket into Europe for next term. Gorgie enjoyed a group stage adventure this term with the hopes for another hit at the big stage.
Hearts are back in action this coming weekend with a big game at Pittodrie against Aberdeen. Neilson expects the three players to return admitting he would be 'disappointed' if they didn't make the league clash after being 'touch-and-go' for Celtic. He said: “It's the same as last week, really. I expect them back for Saturday but I said that last week as well. They were touch-and-go against Celtic. I'd be disappointed if they aren't available for this weekend, put it that way.”
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On missing both Shankland and Snodgass in the defeat to Celtic, Neilson told Edinburgh Evening News: “You see in the game that sometimes you just need somebody to link the play, settle it down and get some control. I felt we didn't really do that on Saturday.
“The two players in our team who do that are Shanks and Snoddy. They are the ones with massive experience, international players who can do that sort of thing."
He continued: “The fans were outstanding, the Gorgie Ultras made a real noise and helped give us that intensity, which allowed us to get back in and get a foothold in the game. Credit to the players and fans that we managed to do that.
"Then we lose a goal right before half-time. We should see it out and get to half-time at 1-0 but Celtic get a throw-in, we don't get set up quickly enough, we allow Kyogo to make that near-post run that he makes 99 times out of 100 and he gets an easy goal. That was a huge disappointment.
"We spoke before the game about getting into that situation where you are man-for-man at the back, but we didn't make the contact you need to make. Especially at Tynecastle in the first two minutes of the game, you need to be aggressive.”
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