Just as it seemed our luck with injuries was changing with the return of Martyn Corrigan and even Ross McCormack starting in the reserves we were dealt a cruel blow when Keith Lasley hurt his knee last week. He will be out fro the rest of the season and the effect on our midfield will be huge. Martyn Corrigan, if fully fit, will presumably come in as a direct replacement. This may work for a game at Tynecastle but whether Corrigan has the creativity or drive of Fitzpatrick for home games remains to be seen. Calum Elliot is ineligible for the match against Hearts so Clarkson and McDonald will continue up front. There are not likely to be any changes at the back.
This trio will be missed!
But Hearts are nothing short of a shambles at present. They seem to be the first club ever to introduce a rotational policy to the manager's position and the first team selection seems to be done by drawing names out of a hat. In addition to a handful of genuine injuries (Cesnauskis and Bednar in particular) we will be helped by the absence of Paul Hartley through suspension and the club suspension of Steven Pressley. Craig Gordon will no doubt be a thorn in our side once again but given he turned down the captaincy a couple of weeks ago it seems that his attitude is not 100% either. This is a squad with morale at rock bottom and they haven't won in an astonishing nine games. There is no reason to be scared of visiting Hearts.
Our recent record at Tynecastle is not too bad even if we have lost the last couple of visits. However, they are struggling for form and confidence and even with our injuries our tails should be up. We may not be as talented as Hearts on a player-by-player basis but we know that organisation and motivation can often make up for this. There is a great chance of proving that once again on Saturday and we should be quite happy to leave with a 1-1 draw.