Hearts defender Craig Halkett believes the imminent returns of Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland can boost the team’s title challenge when they need it most.
Australian midfielder Devlin was the club’s best player until he was sidelined in mid-January, while Shankland scored 15 goals until he was injured four days later.
Both resume full training this week ahead of Saturday’s home game with Dundee, and skipper Halkett feels their presence can make all the difference after Hearts’ lead at the top of the Premiership was cut to two points after a damaging 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock.
‘It’ll be huge,’ he said. ‘We had Oisin (McEntee) back, which was a great positive. Everyone knows how important Shanks and Cammy are, and how good a season we were having before they got injured. To get both of them back in full training will be huge. It will give everyone a massive lift.
‘Loads of teams in the league have had injuries, but they’re two really influential players. Although we’ve still picked up a lot of positive results, it gives everyone in the squad huge encouragement.’
Worryingly for boss Derek McInnes, they were second best at Rugby Park, but Halkett insists they are still in an enviable position position with eight games remaining.
Craig Halkett believes the return of key players will give Hearts a timely boost in the title race
Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin will resume training this week after lengthy absences
Michael Schjonning-Larsen celebrates scoring in Kilmarnock’s 1-0 victory against Hearts
‘It’s just frustrating coming off the back of having a free week last week,’ he said. ‘We had a really good week of training. The boys were ready, but we just never performed well enough.
‘I don’t think we started the game anywhere near good enough and put ourselves on the back foot. Too many individual battles went wrong. It’s hugely frustrating.
‘We’re still in a brilliant position. Anybody else in the league would bite their hand off to be in the position we’re in. As disappointing as Saturday was, we’ve got to remember where we are and where we’ve been.
‘We’ve been in a great position for a number of months now. It’s important we don’t get too disappointed with what’s happened. We’ve lost a big game that we thought we could go and get three points from, but we didn’t. We’ve got to take it on the chin and move on quickly.
“It’s the exact same from when we lost at Ibrox. Everyone said it was a massive game. When we get beat, there’s loads of noise from outside.
‘It’s up to us as players, coaches and everyone in the building not to listen. It’s in one ear, out the other. We just focus on ourselves. The games are getting fewer and fewer but we know what we need to do. The first thing is to bounce back well and win at the weekend.’
