Cammy Devlin has now missed four Hearts games as he recovers from a concussion.
The tough-tackling midfielder picked up a head knock during the Jambos’ Scottish Cup win over St Mirren and had to be withdrawn, since missing league games against Rangers, St Johnstone, the Buddies and Hibs.
A key man under Neil Critchley with his form dramatically improved since the start of the season, the Aussie has been a big miss.
Devlin had the most tackles and interceptions in the league phase of the Conference League and his stats on domestic duty aren’t much different.
Game to game, Critchley had hoped to have those qualities back in his side but the 26-year-old hasn’t quite made it each time.
Now, the manager has given another update ahead of Friday night’s Scottish Cup tie against Dundee.
Hearts hopeful on Devlin for Dundee clash
Once again, the Jambos hope to have Devlin available for their next game, which is a quarter-final clash with their Premiership rivals.
Critchley revealed he has been feeling better and was in the building on Saturday. The hope was that he would be able to train today and that would be a massive step towards featuring on Friday.
The Englishman told the Edinburgh Evening News: “We would hope so, yes. He’s feeling better so he was in on Saturday.
“We’ll hope to step him up this week and see if he can respond and be involved for Friday. We’ll see because we’re in for training today. Hopefully, he can train with the group.”
Hearts missed Devlin against Hibs
Hibs had things all their own way far too much during the second half at Easter Road, almost toying with their rivals in possession.
When Devlin plays, he covers a lot of ground and makes an incredible amount of tackles and interceptions. He certainly wouldn’t have settled for allowing the Hibees so much time and space on the ball.
There is also an argument that Hearts wouldn’t have played a diamond midfield if he was playing, which is partly how Hibs had so much joy down the sides.