Hearts to assess fitness of key pair ahead of Copenhagen trip

Hearts will check on the fitness of key duo Frankie Kent and Beni Baningime ahead of Thursday’s Conference League showdown with Copenhagen in Denmark.

Both players missed Saturday’s comfortable 2-0 win over Dundee as Lawrence Shankland ended a 12-game scoring drought with a first-half double.

Centre-back Kent suffered a quad injury in the previous match against Aberdeen, while midfielder Baningime has been troubled by a knee issue.

“Frankie was more precautionary, to be honest with you, so I would hope that he would be available,” said head coach Neil Critchley. “Beni’s just had a bit of an issue with his knee, which has been on and off for a while, so we just have to check him on Monday to see how that’s going to be.”

Critchley saw his side end a run of five games without a win on Saturday to climb off the bottom of the William Hill Premiership.

While he was happy with their dominant first-half display, he was disappointed they did not continue in a similar manner after the break.

“We said at half-time, we know that one thing they’ll do is they’ll stay in the game and they’ll go right to the end,” he said of Dundee. “So if we think this game’s over then get ready because it’s not.

“They showed enough in the second half to know that it only takes one of them moments, a cross that they create, or a moment where they get the ball in the box, either from a corner, a free-kick, a long throw and the game can change.

“What I said to the players in the dressing room is what they’ll learn about me is it’s about performance. So if we play well and I know that we’ve been there, our character’s been there, our mentality, our intensity, we’ve played well with the ball, then I won’t be angry.

“I’ll be disappointed that we’ve lost. But also, if we win and I think we can play better, then they’ll know about it. It’s not about the outcome all the time, it’s about how we perform because if you perform consistently well, then the results will follow.

“In the second half, I felt we could have played a lot better with the ball.”

Dundee boss Tony Docherty is frustrated his side will have to wait a fortnight to get their slack performance out of their system.

The Dark Blues have a free weekend due to next Sunday’s League Cup final between Rangers and Celtic before they return to action away to Gers the following Saturday.

“It’s been a strange season, I don’t understand the way the fixtures have come about, there’s been too many breaks, and then you go and play four games in seven days,” said Docherty. “It’s crazy, it really has to be looked at.

“But we’ve done it all season, we’ve had a break, we’ve used the time properly, we’ve analysed the performances and we’ve come back stronger from it, and I expect us to do that again.”