Hearts international break plans

Heart of Midlothian lost to Ross County 2-1, their only loss in 17 games, and are now heading into the international break.

“Poor defending” and a call by referee Grant Irvine to disallow Stephen Kingsely’s free kick because of Lawrence Shankland’s involvement undid Steven Naismith’s team, frustrating the Hearts head coach.

Ten members of the existing team will be deployed abroad. The remaining members of the first team will take some days off during this time, but only following a bounce game that is scheduled for the upcoming week.

“We’ve got 10 players away, which is more than we’ve previously had,” Naismith stated. “We’ve got players who could use a game and others who could use a rest. Some guys, like Barrie McKay, Scott Fraser, and Yutaro Oda, are just getting back on the field and will need some practice.

“We have a game arranged for the middle of the week, some will play 90 minutes, some will play some minutes and some won’t play at all and then it’s about recharging for the next block of games.”

Naismith also stated that he hopes to “get players back” before Kilmarnock’s game at Tynecastle Park following the intermission. Derek McInnes’ team defeated St Mirren 5-2 to close the third-place margin to 11 points.

We want to see Calem Nieuwenhof and Frankie Kent back in the running. It was Naismith who stated prior to the journey to Dingwall that they “expect” to be available for the Killie match.