Shankland will 'come back strong' - Watt

Tony Watt knows a thing or two about the pressures of playing for Hearts. When he joined on loan in 2016, aged just 22, he was brought in as the main striker for a club pushing for a European place.

It didn't quite work out like that. After a promising start, he scored just one goal in 17 appearances and his loan spell was cut short in January.

Interestingly, that is the exact same record that Lawrence Shankland has this season. The Hearts skipper is enduring an uncharacteristically barren run, but Watt has backed him to come good.

"His all-round play is excellent," the current Motherwell forward said on the Scottish Football Podcast. "He holds the ball up, he creates chances for other people.

"It's just a case of the manager showing him belief and him just resetting and hitting the target again every time he can. He'll score goals, he's a goal scorer and that's the way he has always been. He'll come back strong."

Hearts need their main man to start scoring again. After a promising start under new head coach Neil Critchley, momentum has petered out with losses to Kilmarnock, Heidenheim and Rangers.

However, Watt has seen enough in the performances to encourage Hearts fans.

"I think the signs are positive coming out of Tynecastle," he said. "Midweek, by all accounts, they were supposed to have been on top for the majority of the game against a Bundesliga team.

"They won at St Johnstone and they were unlucky against Killie the game before. If they keep ticking along at this pace, I think they'll be okay, it will take them time just to get to the new manager's ways."