Once again, James Penrice was one of the best players on the pitch for Hearts in the win over Dundee on Saturday.
His will to attack, get forward and deliver balls into the box is becoming a staple sight at Tynecastle and beyond – and with that, the left-back is already a fan favourite.
Lawrence Shankland’s double made it three points in the Premiership for the Jambos and the captain had Penrice to thank.
The former Livingston star delivered two inch-perfect deliveries for Shankland, who finally scored his first goals since September.
But two assists wasn’t enough to satisfy Penrice. He feels he could have got more – but it was all about the win and of course, seeing Shankland celebrate a goal again.
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Penrice on Hearts assists and Lawrence Shankland
Penrice told the Edinburgh Evening News: “Actually, I’m probably also a bit disappointed. I probably should have had more because we had a couple of other crosses as well.
“But I’m just happy that Shanks gets his couple of goals and that’s more important than the win. It’s not about the assists or that. I’m buzzing for the man.
“He (Shankland) said: ‘Finally,’ when I ran over to him (to celebrate). He said a couple of times that he could have been putting away my crosses, but he deserved it on Saturday.
“He has worked really hard on it, I know that. He’s known for his goals and he’s a link-up player, he’s been brilliant for the full season. Although he hadn’t scored goals, he was still really effective.
“Probably the only thing is maybe the second half against Dundee. Don’t let them come back into the game. We had a couple of chances, a couple of crosses.
“I thought we defended the ball really well. But yeah, go and get more goals. That’s probably what we could have taken from it.”
Penrice previews Copenhagen trip
On Thursday night, Hearts are on the road again in Europe as they prepare to face Danish giants FC Copenhagen in the Europa Conference League.
A win would secure passage to the knockout-play off round and Hearts want the job done in Denmark before the final fixture against Petrocub in Gorgie.
Penrice said: “I was definitely buzzing when we got Copenhagen in the draw. We’re going to get points on the board.
“There’s no hiding away from it that it will be tough, but we’ll go over the gameplan and we’re going to try and get through to the next round.
“We’ve got two games to do that, and that’ll be the aim – to go and progress in this competition.
“European football is all pretty new for me. All those boys in the dressing room have played in these competitions every year they’ve been at Hearts.
“It’s new for me but I just go into the games with excitement. And I said it before, you’ll have no problem getting up for these games.
“There’s a certain buzz when you go and hear that song at the start of the game, the adrenaline drags you through it.
“I think we need to take things from the last away game at Cercle Bruges and go and get points on the board.”