Northern Irishman was forced off and the Costa Rican was not fit to travel
Liam Boyce and Kenneth Vargas of Hearts are both injured ahead of Wednesday’s match against Rangers at Tynecastle Park. The Northern Irishman was injured during Saturday’s win over Kilmarnock, and Vargas was unable to travel to Rugby Park.
Boyce was hurt and was removed off the pitch after half an hour. He was pulled after appearing to jerk his leg after playing a pass. Vargas suffered an ankle injury on Friday and was ruled out. Steven Naismith, the head coach of the Hearts, highlighted the difficulties with both players.
“I’ve not checked since we’ve come in but he seemed fine,” he said in reference to Boyce. “When he came off he mentioned he felt something in his leg, it wasn’t as if he knew exactly what it was. Whether it is a nerve issue or a muscle issue, we will see in the coming days.”
On Vargas, he added: “On Friday he rolled his ankle but it wasn’t too serious. He was close but I think, with the personnel and strength of our squad, we didn’t need to risk him.
Lawrence Shankland’s shot was fumbled into the Kilmarnock net by goalkeeper Will Dennis on 19 minutes to earn Hearts a victory which pushes them up to third in the Premiership table. It was the Edinburgh club’s fourth successive league win, the first time in five years they have achieved that feat.
“It’s a wonderful victory. We saw it earlier in the season when we won the League Cup. It definitely feels wonderful because you know what to expect,” Naismith explained. “The conditions today, the pitch – they are what they are.” You had to play differently, which we did. The excellent point was scoring in the first half, which allowed us to define how we wanted to set up and play the game.
“Every game on an Astroturf pitch is close because you know both teams are going to get a chance, whether it be down to the bounce of the ball or a slip or whatever. You’re going to concede chances but I thought we defended really well. We probably gave them one good chance that could have been a goal. They had a header late on but our positions were really good, which put pressure on them and then the boy can only head it over the bar. It’s a good win because of that, and the defensive display was really good.
“Four victories is a terrific start. Three consecutive victories took us two years to achieve, and this has taken us five years. If I’m being honest, for a team like Hearts – and I’m sure a few others will agree – a run like that shouldn’t take five years. It’s three points, and it keeps us going.
“The run of games has been good, but the way we’ve dealt with them has been brilliant.” What we needed to do to win each game was different. And in the end, there’s Cammy Devlin, who has an injury and is struggling to move but isn’t afraid to put his body on the line when necessary. Credit
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