Derek McInnes, Hearts’ head coach, imparted some good team news for fans at his pre-match briefing with the media at The Orium.
Stephen Kingsley is back in and Craig Halkett is fine. Tomas Magnusson has been training wearing a protective mask on his damaged cheekbone, but he has now picked up a thigh strain after shooting practice on Wednesday and he will miss the trip to Livingston on Sunday (kick-off 2pm).
Harry Milne and Stuart Findlay are progressing well but Sunday’s trip may come too quickly for Milne. Findlay may have a chance of playing.
Beni Baningime is fine and he has enjoyed a full week of work and is also in contention for the trip along the M8 to The Home of the Set Fare Arena.
Looking at the final seven games, McInnes said the squad must play the games that come their way and he added: “We are in a good position.”
He emphasised the importance of winning the next two games, against Livingston away and at home to Motherwell in their final fixture before the split, and McInnes said that will sort everything out.
The former Aberdeen and Kilmarnock boss said: “We want to go into the split in good form, with the best points tally we can possibly get, and, to do that we have to deal with a couple of really tough games starting on Sunday at Livi.”
McInnes (pictured at training by Nigel Duncan) is well aware of Livingston’s position in the table – they are bottom – and he said that Marvin Bartey’s men lost the last game out, a 2-0 defeat at Kilmarnock. They have possibly struggled to win fixtures this term, but they have been really competitive.
So much so, that the Lions have, he said, drawn four of their last five games. The draws have been against good teams like Rangers and Hibs so the West Lothian side have a real competitive element to their team.
He added: “Any time I have been a manager going to Livingston over the years it has always been a tough venue and we have that to content with and that has our full attention.”
