Hearts arrange a friendly against SPFL side to fill the Premier Sports Cup fixture gap
Hearts arrange a friendly against SPFL side to fill the Premier Sports Cup fixture gap.
The Scottish Championship opponents lined up.
Hearts have scheduled a closed-door friendly this week as they prepare for an idle weekend with the Premier League suspended.
Premier Sports Cup quarter-final ties take precedence, as the Edinburgh club is not participating after losing on penalties to St Mirren in the previous round. Instead, they will play a bounce match against Ayr United on Wednesday.
The game is intended to provide valuable game time to players from both teams, as respective managers Derek McInnes and Scott Brown strive to keep their squads as fit as possible for upcoming league matches.
Hearts are set to field custodian Craig Gordon, defender Jamie McCart, midfielders Calem Nieuwenhof and Tomas Magnusson, wingers Alan Forrest and Sabah Kerjota, and strikers Elton Kabangu, James Wilson, and Pierre Landry Kabore.
Ayr, like Hearts, are not participating in this weekend’s cup action. They fell to Partick Thistle in the last 16 and are now without a game.
They will restart their Scottish Championship campaign next Tuesday night when they travel to Dunfermline Athletic. Following Saturday’s 2-0 Premiership victory against Rangers at Ibrox, Hearts will not play again until Falkirk visits Tynecastle Park a week later on Saturday.
That game is the next opportunity for the Edinburgh club to extend their unbeaten league record, which has them now joint-top of the table.
McInnes expressed frustration with having to wait so long for another encounter following the triumph in Glasgow.
Hearts want to sustain momentum, but this fortnight feels like an international break. “We have a bounce game on Wednesday.” The boys will have the weekend off. “Next weekend will be tough,” McInnes conceded.
“You don’t mind international breaks or not playing on a Saturday when no one else is playing, but when other teams are playing that way, it’s difficult. We’ll take it as it is. We’ll let two or three of them heal from injuries before returning our entire attention to Falkirk on Monday.
Gordon is hoping to return to the first team after missing four months due to a neck and shoulder injury. He is eager to persuade McInnes that he can be Hearts’ No.1 again, despite fierce competition for the job.
Zander Clark had been first-choice this season before the new signing. Alexander Schwolow took his place at Ibrox, and Harry Stone joined the first-team squad.
Ryan Fulton and Liam McFarlane are recovering from injuries in Riccarton’s overcrowded goalkeeping department. Gordon’s goal is clear.
“Keep training well and try to get in the manager’s thoughts to get a start,” he told the Hearts website this week.
“That’s all I can do – continuing doing everything I can to prove I’m the one the management should choose. That includes all of us. It’ll be a terrific competition, and we’ll see how things go.
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