Hearts boosted by Jamie McCart injury prognosis

Jamie McCart will not require surgery as Hearts boss Derek McInnes offered a positive prognosis on the defender’s ankle injury.

It was feared the 28-year-old could be out for up to four months after sustaining the problem in a pre-season friendly against fellow William Hill Premiership side St Mirren at the club’s training camp in Spain last week.

However, ahead of the opening Premier Sports Cup tie against Championship side Dunfermline at Tynecastle on Saturday, McInnes was more optimistic.

“We have come through pre-season pretty much unscathed in terms of injury, except obviously Jamie McCart, although we did get some better news yesterday,” said the former Kilmarnock and Aberdeen boss, who admitted that veteran goalkeeper Craig Gordon was only “slowly” recovering from a shoulder problem.

“The initial feeling was that he might have been out three to four months, but we think he might be more six to eight weeks.

“The surgeon now feels that he won’t need surgery, so still bad news, but not as bad as we first feared on further investigations.

“So in terms of pre-season, it went well apart from that.”

On 42-year-old Gordon, whose last game was against Ross County on May 3, McInnes said: “I think Craig has his eyes on his testimonial game (against his former club Sunderland on July 26) but I think he’s probably got a lot to do to be ready for that.

“I spoke to him again yesterday. He’s making progress, albeit quite slow progress.

“So I can’t say with any certainty really when and that’s the frustrating thing about that type injury.

“At least you have some sort of idea with a hamstring or a broken bone, but the nature of the injury is quite unusual. So we can’t really be clear on how long it’s going to be.”

Captain Lawrence Shankland claims the pressure has been lifted after he re-signed with the Jambos on a three-year contract.

The 29-year-old forward looked to be on his way out of Tynecastle after several rounds of negotiations failed to result in an agreement

However, after becoming a free agent this summer and exploring his options, Shankland recently signed on again to give McInnes and the Hearts fans a pre-season boost.

The Scotland international said: “I feel that once I made the decision that I was going to stay, a bit of pressure came off, because there’s a lot of speculation and everywhere you turn people are asking ‘what are you doing? Are you staying? Are you moving?’ and it can get to you a bit when people keep asking you the same question.

“So after I’d made the decision and committed to coming to Hearts, I was happy with what I’d done and that’s how I feel now.

“I feel relaxed about it and I’m looking forward to the season.”