Shankland 'not getting caught up' in goal drought

Misfiring Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland believes his all-round game has improved and is confident the goals will soon follow.

Having netted 59 times in his first two years at the Edinburgh club, the 29-year-old Scotland international has just one goal this season amid Hearts' poor start.

"It's obviously been a difficult season in terms of as a collective," said Shankland.

"I think individually everybody's just pointing towards goals, which is obviously normal coming off the back of two really successful seasons that I had and scored so many.

"I'm in competition with myself with the amount of goals I'm scoring, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes not so good. I think you take a step back and look at the bigger picture in terms of my all-round game.

"I feel like it's been improving and things have been starting to come together. I don't really get judged on that, I understand that, but me personally, I know if I get my game to a level where I can feel that I'm playing well, the goals will eventually come again. It's not something I'm getting too caught up in looking at numbers.

"I've been here before in my career, I've came through it and I'm sitting here today. I will survive it and going forward hopefully the goals will start flowing again."