Livingston confirm that two players have returned to the West Lothian club on the eve of their visit to Tynecastle to face pace-setting Hearts on Saturday (15.00).
Forward Jannik Wanner has been on loan at St Johnstone and defender Brooklyn Kabongolo returns from what has been described as a successful period with Arbroath. He featured on 13 occasions and scored three goals in a 2-1 win at Dunfermline Athletic.
The Lions have also appointed 36-year-old Andrew Shinnie as a player-coach at The Home of the Set Fare Arena. He has made over 150 appearances for the West Lothian club.
Another boost is the recent signing of 24-year-old winger, Joshua Zimmerman, for an undisclosed fee as manager David Martindale strives to lift the club off the bottom of the 12-strong William Hill Premiership.
Martindale’s men have suffered four defeats in their last five games and have failed to beat Hearts in their last four meetings, but they came so close to earning a confidence-boosting result when the sides clashed at Almondavle earlier in the season.
Smith fired Livi ahead after 26 minutes on August 30 only for Brage to level two minutes after the break. Livingston hearts were broken by Greek winger Kyziridis who slotted two minutes into injury time, just one of the close defeats suffered by the Lions this term.
They have collected only nine points so far with Hearts on 41, and both go into the game after defeats, a 3-2 reverse for Derek McInnes’ men at Hibs and a 3-1 defeat for Martindale at Livingston in midweek.
Hearts have also been busy off the field. Kenneth Vargas has made a loan move to Costa Rica side Alajuelense while Dutch-born, right-back, Jordi Altena has come in. He is a player who has been on the Jambos’ radar for some time and the club were forced to accelerate the signing because of interest from other unnamed clubs.
The 22-year-old player, who was playing amateur football recently, said: “When Hearts came for me it was a beautiful chance and I couldn’t say no.”
He told Hearts TV that the first talks he had with the Tynecastle team “were good, they made feel special”, and he added: “They watched minutes of my play and they sent me a video of Hearts and the accommodation and the stadium. It is amazing.”
DERBY ACTION: flashback to last weekend at Easter Road
