Derek McInnes believes the return of Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland can set Hearts on course for “a special end to the season”.
The Jambos are two points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, and head coach McInnes says the whole club will be “boosted” by the return of the league’s “best striker” and “best midfielder”, who have been missing for more than two months.
Captain Shankland netted 15 goals in all competitions before pulling up with a hamstring injury in January’s Scottish Cup defeat to Falkirk, while Devlin had featured in all but three minutes of their league campaign, prior to sustaining an ankle injury against St Mirren.
During their absence, Hearts have dropped points in half of their league games – winning just four of their eight. However, they remain unmoved at the league’s summit as they bid for a historic first top-flight title in 66 years.
Ahead of the visit of Dundee on Saturday, McInnes said: “Lawrence [Shankland] being our captain, Scotland international, everything he carries, the amount of goals he’s scored over the previous seasons, any team would be missing that type of individual.
“Not just his ability, but also his experience, his leadership qualities, and calmness and know-how on the pitch. So, great to have Lawrence back. There’s no two ways about that.
“It was a significant blow when both lads went out of the team. We’re obviously carrying other injuries with [Stephen] Kingsley, [Stuart] Findlay, Beni [Baningime], [Eduardo] Ageu and all the rest of the lads.
“But with these two lads coming back in, I think the players will get a boost, and I think the support will get a boost. I’m certainly glad that they’re back on the training pitch.
Lawrence Shankland picked up an injury against Falkirk in the Scottish Cup
“Cammy brings so much as well. I think Lawrence, for me, until he went out of the team with injury, he was the best striker in the league. Cammy, for me, was arguably the best midfielder in the league.
“So, it’s good to have both boys back at such a crucial time in the season.”
“I would need to weigh all that up,” he added when asked if both could start on Saturday. “I think there’s obviously a temptation with that, but we also don’t want to put ourselves in a position where you put both boys at risk, and then we’ll lose them again. We’ll weigh all this up with the medical team this week.
“It’s been great, and back out there, it looks as if they’ve not been away. We’re looking for them to be part of the squad at the weekend.
Cammy Devlin was injured against St Mirren
“There’s no real kind of obstacles for them not being involved, and if it’s just down to me, then yes, they’ll be involved.”
Meanwhile, McInnes also confirmed that midfielder Tomas Magnusson suffered a fractured cheekbone in Saturday’s defeat to Kilmarnock, but the specialist is “quite confident” he could return after this weekend with a protective mask.
He added that Beni Baningime had an injection on Monday, but is “hopeful” he can train this week. The same goes for Harry Milne, who has missed training this week after picking up a calf strain at Rugby Park.
Hearts’ 43-year-old goalkeeper Craig Gordon is in London seeing a specialist, but academy graduate Finlay Pollock, who has missed the entire season through injury, returned to training this week alongside Shankland and Devlin.
McInnes: I fully believe something special can happen
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McInnes on the Scottish Premiership title race, with his side two points ahead of Celtic and one further ahead of Rangers
Hearts missed out on the chance to go five points clear when they lost 1-0 to relegation-threatened Kilmarnock on Saturday evening.
It was a third successive away defeat, but more crucially, a missed opportunity.
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Highlights from Hearts’ defeat at Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership
During the two previous weekends, the leaders had capitalised on the Old Firm clubs spilling points after playing first.
However, on Saturday, they faced the different pressure of playing after Celtic – who had already cut the gap to two with a 3-1 victory over high-flying Motherwell.
Now their task is to once again respond to a setback, as they have done so successfully all season.
Eight games to go, two points clear, one shot at history.
McInnes added: “I think when you look at the teams around us in the last five games, I think we’ve won three out of five. I think Celtic have won three, Motherwell have won three, I think Rangers have won two out of five.
“So, nobody’s really catching fire and winning the games… hopefully, we can be the team that catches fire between now and the end of the season and try and hit our best form if we can.
“Having players back, having the motivation, constantly fighting, being the underdog is something we’ve played a big part in.
“We’re up against two heavyweights, the teams from Glasgow who have got so many obvious advantages over us, but what we’ve got is real strength.
“We’ve got real strength and a real will to do well, a real togetherness to do well and we’re screaming with ambition to do well…
“When we reached the top of the league back in September, did people genuinely think, really think that we would be top of the league still almost into April? The answer would be no, obviously.
“I’m just glad that we’re relevant to be honest. I couldn’t think of anything worse than being mid-table now and just sitting watching this fight going on and wanting it to be us.
“We’re right in the middle of it and we’re exactly where we want to be, but if we want to continue it, we’re going to have to make sure that we have real concentration on performance…
“We are the underdog and because we’ve been top of the league, maybe people don’t see us as the underdog as much now.
“But we’re still paying Hearts wages, we’re still competing with what we’ve got against teams who have spent an absolute fortune putting these squads together.
“But we know, as our top six record suggests, we know we can beat them…
“I fully believe that we are going to have a special end to the season and I’m totally committed to that.
“I see it, I think we can do it, I think we can be really strong right through the line and I want the players to play with confidence and not think about that.”
McInnes: Disappointed but not suprised by Scotland snubs
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McInnes was “disappointed” but not ‘surprised’ as none of his Hearts squad were selected for Scotland duty by Steve Clarke
Despite being top of the Scottish Premiership, there were no Hearts players named in the Scotland squad for this month’s World Cup warm-up matches against Japan and Ivory Coast.
Head coach Steve Clarke suggested that both Hearts and Motherwell were “better than the sum of the parts” when explaining his decision not to include any players from either club as the Scotland boss remained loyal to the group of players which secured that historic first qualification since 1998.
Shankland and Gordon were part of the famous team that beat Denmark in November, but injuries easily explain their absence.
However, top domestic performers Craig Halkett, Harry Milne and Marc Leonard were all overlooked, much to the disappointment of the Hearts head coach.
McInnes said: “Surprised? Probably not. Disappointed?
“I think we’ve been a really strong team this season and there’s been key players within it.
“My opinion doesn’t matter, I don’t really like people telling me what players to pick in my team and the only opinion that matters is Steve’s [Clarke], but it doesn’t mean to say I think he’s right with it.
“I do think I’ve got players that have earned the opportunity to be part of an international set-up but hopefully the lads’ motivation just keeps going, keep doing well, and hopefully in time that they get there, that’s the hope.
“I speak to the lads regularly about it and I do believe that we have got players who could represent the country, there’s no question of that to me.
“So yeah, while there’s disappointment that they’re not in this squad, you all know how things can change whether it’s through injury or whatever that players get opportunities.
“There’s enough motivation for them to get on with it here but if there’s any added motivation to try and be part of a World Cup squad then of course it can only help.
“They’re probably a bit disappointed but you soon have to refocus on what we’re doing here, and their performances for us over the season is what will get them in, and maybe hopefully that will be the case in time.”
