Joe Wright's Hearts transfer chances assessed as centre back grabs second Tynecastle opportunity

Joe Wright has been given a second chance at winning a move to Hearts after he saw a first opportunity dashed by injury.

And the centre back did himself no harm by scoring in a trial appearance against East Fife. Robbie Neilson ’s men were back in action on home soil for the first time after a week-long training camp in Spain. Gibraltarian outfit Europa FC were seen off 4-0 in the sun, and the Jambos racked up the goals in Methil, notching a magnificent seven without reply in a testimonial encounter for Bayview front man Kevin Smith, brother of former Hearts striker Gordon.

Four of the goals came from defenders, with Stephen Kingsley claiming a hat-trick. Always prolific during pre-season, ‘Trialist’ made it 3-0 shortly after the half-hour mark, getting on the end of a sweet delivery from new boy Jorge Grant. ‘Trialist’ of course, was Wright, who is in training with the capital club in the hopes of winning a deal. He’ll play some part of tonight’s friendly against Spartans as Neilson splits his squad, and is likely to feature against SPFL newcomers Bonnyrigg Rose at Tynecastle on Saturday.

"I liked what I saw, so he needs to keep that up," was Neilson's assessment so far. "He'll keep playing and training. We've got a game on Wednesday night. He'll be involved in that a little bit and then there's the game on Saturday, so we'll see how he does. We spoke to him a while ago and obviously he got quite a bad injury and was in rehab. He's just coming back."

Getting on the scoresheet in these games is always useful when trying to impress, regardless of what position you play. For Wright though, this trial has been a long time coming after a proposed move to Tynecastle last summer fell through. Terms had been agreed for the