Craig Gordon hands Hearts injury boost but Steven Naismith reveals fresh setback to another Jambos star

Naismith is preparing for his first game since officially being named head coach as Aberdeen visit Tynecastle.

Craig Gordon has stepped up his comeback as the Hearts skipper edges towards a long-awaited return to fitness.

But the Jambos have been hit by a fresh blow with Alex Cochrane ruled out for a minimum six weeks after damaging his ankle in training and joins Barrie McKay on the sidelines. Ahead of the clash with Aberdeen, Steven Naismith provided a mixed report on the injury front with Beni Baningime, Calum Nieuwenhof and Stephen Kingsley all back in contention for a start.

Brighton loanee Odel Offiah will also return to Tynecastle next week having returned to his parent club after taking ill during the international break. And an added bonus was the news on veteran goalkeeper Gordon who has been sidelined since suffering a horror double leg break on Christmas Eve last year. Naismith said: “Alex is out. He blocked a shot in training and it damaged his ankle so he will be out for a minimum six weeks. Beni and Nieuwenhof have come back in.

"Craig Gordon is back out on the pitch but there’s no return date for him. He is back and doing quite a bit but it is stage by stage to see how he reacts before we move to the next stage.

“It is not a case of saying that in two weeks he will be fine. He is in a good place, though. He’s hungry and desperate to get back involved and that’s a good sign after such a bad injury.

“He is doing most football things but he’s not back in the squad in terms of game related stuff. Maybe if it’s specific patterns or shooting then he might get involved in that but he’s not so much back the group for the main parts of sessions.

“He is back on the grass two or three days a week and other than that, I don’t need to know exactly where he’s at until I know he is back with the group. I will take control of him then. Odel will come back to us next week. He will be back involved with us. There were some issues with him feeling light-headed and things like that so we didn’t want to take any risks.”

Meanwhile Naismith admits his Hearts side has struggled to deal with the expectation to win so far this season. But as he prepares to finally take charge of his first match as head coach the 37-year-old insists he has belief his side are about to click after the international break. He said: “Not so much a clean slate but the break has been good for us.

“It came at a bad time in terms of results but a good time in terms of what we needed to do. If you look back at the first block of the season then I think we have had some good performances but on the back of good performances in Europe, we have struggled with that fatigue.

“Part of the reason we have struggled to deal with it is the expectation to win. The expectation on a Sunday against Dundee or Motherwell is that we should be winning that game. What we have to deal with internally is the fatigue and the travel, and maybe somebody has a niggle but they’re carrying on but not feeling their best. We haven’t managed to deal with that.

“We’ve not caused enough problems to these teams. We have had a lot of possession but it was safe and Motherwell defended well, even when it was 10 men, and we’ve got to put them under more pressure. We need to find the moments when we can play certain passes, that we think are key passes, no matter the game. That helps you get the chances and we didn’t do that enough.

“That comes down to being fatigued and thinking you maybe can’t do that so you choose to play safe and before you know it, 20 minutes have gone, 40 minutes have gone, 70 minutes have gone, and the game is running away from you.

“I think it’s been more that because if you look at our good performances and show we set up. Out of possession we have looked organised and done well to win the ball back and in the games we’ve carried a good threat, we have been exciting to watch so it is now about getting back to that rather than the safe and slow possession.”

Hearts have won just four of their last 11 games at Tynecastle stretching back to March and Naismith is determined to make Gorgie a fortress again. He said: “That was one of the first things I said to them. The crowd is such a good weapon to have and especially in Scotland, there aren’t many stadiums like it that give you that atmosphere and that intimidation.

“But you’ve got to give the fans something. If we come out and decide we’re just going to keep the ball, it’s boring. It’s boring for all of us, players included.

“So we need to understand how we do that and that’s something that we didn’t do in the Motherwell game especially. If you dig deeper than that – final-third entries, how many shots we’re having in games – all these small details need to be better. And if they are better, we will be better team and we will win more games.

“I believe in the way we play and when we’re good at it, we’re good. But it takes time – making mistakes, learning from mistakes and getting better. We constantly need to see progress but we need to understand that it will take time. I’m comfortable with what we’re trying to do and how we are doing it. When it clicks and everyone is familiar with it, I think we will be really successful.“