Robbie Neilson has urged Stephen Humphrys and his fellow Hearts forwards to grasp the opportunity to fill Lawrence Shankland’s shooting boots.
The Tynecastle Top Gun will sit out Friday night’s Scottish Cup fifth round tie at Hamilton Accies after being sent off during theory 3-0 Edinburgh derby drubbing of Hibs last month, but not before equalling John Robertson’s 20 goals ina season record, which he then broke against Dundee United last Saturday.
He was upstaged in spectacular fashion by Humphrys though, who sealed the Jambos’ 3-1 win with a 60 yard stoppage time strike from his own half that has surely ewn up the Goal of the Season award already. The Wigan Athletic loanee is likely to lead the line in Lanarkshire with Shankland sidelined, while Garang Kuol and Yutaro Oda are in reserve and waiting to really get their Hearts careers going after arriving during the January transfer window.
“It's disappointing to lose Lawrence but it’s happened and we need to deal with it,” said Neilson. “But we’ve got guys who have scored goals, are desperate to get in the team and doing well when they do get in. That’s what the squad depth is there for. It’s an opportunity for someone else to stake their claim.
“He (Humphrys) did well last week and scored a great goal. He’s had a wee difficult period with injury and found it difficult to get himself going. There’s a quality player there as we see when he does play for us and it’s an opportunity. But we’ve got Garang, we’ve got Oda and Ginnelly, different guys that can play in that position as well.”
Shankland has been stand-in skipper since Craig Gordon’s double leg break on Christmas Eve. He’s also the regular penalty taker, having netter 11 so far this season, but neilson admits he hasn’t figured out who’ll step up from 12 yards if hearts get one on Friday, and will likely let his men sort it out between themselves.
He added: “I’ve not actually, no. We usually just leave it up to them so we’ll wait and see. We’ll maybe need to get Shanks on!”
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