Hearts boss Neil Critchley talks up ‘absolutely outstanding’ Cammy Devlin

Neil Critchley praised “infectious” Cammy Devlin for coming to the fore amid the pressure of Hearts’ ongoing battle to ease the threat of relegation.

The Jambos have generally underperformed this season and been heavily criticised as a result, but the Australian midfielder has bucked the trend and endeared himself to supporters with the manner in which he has embraced the challenge of trying to galvanise his beleaguered team.

After starting only three of Critchley’s first six games in charge, the 26-year-old Devlin has made himself an ever-present in the Englishman’s starting line-up over the past nine matches in all competitions, and he was warmly applauded off the park following Sunday’s crucial 2-1 victory over St Johnstone.

“He’s been terrific, Cammy,” said head coach Critchley.

“Absolutely outstanding. He covers every blade of grass. The amount of tackles and regains and interceptions he makes is brilliant.

“He’s an infectious character. He’s so positive. He plays on the front foot. He’s a real competitor. I love his attitude and I love the way he plays the game. I’m delighted for him.”

Sunday’s win lifted Hearts out of the bottom two for the first time since August as they leapfrogged St Johnstone and Ross County into 10th place at the end of a week in which they came under fire from their supporters following back-to-back disappointments against Kilmarnock in the league and Petrocub in the Conference League.

Critchley acknowledged there is still “a lot of work to do”.

But since he inherited a team with just two points from their opening eight matches in mid-October, only Celtic, Rangers and St Mirren have collected more Premiership points than the 14 Hearts have taken during his 10 league games in charge.

“Yes, I do,” when asked if he felt progress had been made since he arrived.

“I think if you look at the points tally that we’ve got in my time here, that would be comparable with most teams in the league other than the obvious ones.

“If you look at everyone else, we’d be on a par, maybe slightly higher than some of them. I think there’s been improvements made.

“When you come in, you obviously inherit a certain situation. I wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a problem or an issue. You try to solve them as quickly as you can and then look at how you can make improvements. I think we’ve done that, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Critchley expects key duo Craig Halkett and Beni Baningime to be fit for Thursday’s Edinburgh derby against Hibernian following their recent fitness issues.

“They’re fine,” he said.

“Halks came off on Thursday. He got a knee into his back, so he felt as though he might have gone into a spasm a little bit. But he was on the bench (against St Johnstone).

“Didn’t feel as though he was quite 100 per cent, but he should be fine. Beni’s trained the last couple of days. Beni was in the squad, I just didn’t name him on the bench, but we’re hopeful that he will be available.”Show less