Battle for cup final starting places will keep Hearts focused – Robbie Neilson

Robbie Neilson believes competition for Scottish Cup final starting places will keep Hearts focused and motivated in the last two league fixtures.

The Tynecastle side visit Motherwell on Wednesday before hosting Rangers in the cinch Premiership on Saturday, a week before they meet the Ibrox men again at Hampden in the season’s showpiece match.

Although Hearts have little at stake in the league, Neilson hopes the scrap for cup final jerseys – with several key men returning to fitness after injury lay-offs – will help drive up the standards.

“We’ve got a Scottish Cup final in less than two weeks and they’re all desperate to be in that starting XI,” said Neilson.

“They know there are a number of guys coming back who are trying to get into that XI as well so they’re all motivated to get into that team, which obviously helps try to win games.

“Training’s been good. Winning the semi-final has allowed us to be in this position. If we hadn’t won that, the last five games of the season would have been difficult, but the boys are in a good place at the moment.”

Neilson hopes to give more game time to players who have just returned from injury in Wednesday’s match at Fir Park.

“We’re going to be putting out our strongest team and we’ll have a few guys coming back from injury who will get game time towards the end of the game,” he said.

“Michael Smith, Andy Halliday, Aaron McEneff and Cammy Devlin are all back in the fold. John Souttar will be back with the group but won’t be available for tomorrow. We hope he’ll be available for Saturday.

“Craig Halkett has been doing some conditioning work by himself and he will be back with the group on Thursday. He’s pushing to try and get ready for the final.

“The hope is that he’ll get a bit