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Lawrence Shankland Hearts penalty teaser as boss Neil Critchley has his say on who will step up in Copenhagen
Neil Critchley insists he’ll back Lawrence Shankland to bury his Brugge penalty pain if Hearts are awarded a spot kick in Copenhagen tonight.
The Jambos skipper suffered a torturous night in Belgium a fortnight ago when he blazed over from 12 yards with the scoreline 1-0 before Cercle Brugge ran out 2-0 winners. That lead to ugly scenes as brassed off travelling fans turned on their captain. But Shankland bounced back with a double to end his 12-game goal drought in Saturday’s 2-0 win against Dundee.
And Critchley will have no problem keeping his number one striker on penalty duties in tonight’s crunch Conference League clash - if Shankland puts himself forward. He said: “Yeah. No problem. He's a striker, loves getting the back of the net. Scoring two goals is obviously giving him a big boost, a big lift.
“So, if he steps forward and wants to take the penalty, then no problem at all. I spoke to Shanks about that prior to the Dundee game. I haven't spoken to him yet about this one, but I will do. I'm not going to tell you what the outcome of that conversation before Dundee was because I'd give away then who would be taking a penalty! So, I don't want to tell the opposition what might happen.”
Shankland had suggested after Saturday’s game that he'd happily step aside from spot kick duties. But Critchley added: “That was the case before the game on Saturday. But he's scored two since then, so he might be different now.”
Copenhagen pose the toughest test of Hearts’ six league phase outings. But Critchley - who is without Beni Baningime who stayed at home with a knee injury but has Frankie Kent back available - won’t stand for the term “free hit”.
And he has challenged his side to hunt down a result that would secure a play-off spot and avoid their fate dragging into the final matchday against Petrocub. The Tynecastle boss admits there were regrets over the failure to pick anything up on their last trip to face Cercle Brugge a fortnight ago.
And while Copenhagen are the Pot 1 side who last season marched to the last 16 of the Champions League after beating Manchester United and drawing with Bayern Munich in the group stage, Critchley says there’s no plans to park the bus in the magnificent Parken Stadium.
He said: “Free hits, I don't like those words. There's no such thing. We're above Copenhagen in this competition, so they need to win and we need to get something from the game. We missed an opportunity in Bruges. We didn't perform well enough on the night.
“We don't want to go to the last game. If that's the case, then so be it, but here we have an opportunity. We're here and we'll give it everything we can to make sure our supporters, who are travelling in great numbers again, that we try and do everything we can to give them a great memory and a great evening.
“They're the best team we've met in this competition so far. Technically, they're very good. They have a clear way of playing, clear identity in and out of position.
“We know we have to be good in all aspects of our game, but we've played well in Europe and we'll need to play well, but it's a great challenge. Fantastic stadium, great arena. It's exciting.
“So, we can't wait for the game. Sometimes the best form of defence is to attack and if we just come here and try to park the pus, then that'll be an issue. We've got to try and play our game as well and try and do our very best to control the game when we have those chances."
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