Lawrence Shankland can't hit next Hearts penalty and it's not transfer chat weighing on his mind - Ryan Stevenson

Steven Naismith doesn’t seem too bothered about Lawrence Shankland missing three penalties on the bounce and he’s still backing the striker to hit the next one.

Fair enough but if I was Shanks’ team-mate I would be ignoring the gaffer and dragging the ball off him the next time we won a spot-kick! Back in my day you didn’t get to miss three. If you missed one you were off them next time around. I’ve been there myself. I remember I missed one, scored the next and then missed again – and I ended up at the back of the queue again.

That’s how it worked and it will be interesting see what happens the next time Hearts get a penalty because I’ve never heard of anyone getting a fourth shot at it. There will be players desperate to get a turn. There are some guys who never want to hit penalties but I was always first with my hand up to be the main taker. The way I saw it, it was an easy way to guarantee five goals a season and as a midfielder, that was a head start towards double figures.

But it was still no fun when they didn’t go in. I was always in the habit of practising them anyway. I’d hit 10 to 15 every other day in training and more if I’d fluffed one.

There’s no doubt it can get in your head. It might depend on the player and if anyone can handle it, then it would be Shankland. But it is still not easy when you have missed few. It’s not like going on a bit of a goal drought in open play.

When that happens you know it might just take one going in off your backside to get back up and running. When it comes to spot-kicks though, the six inches between your ears are more important than the 12 yards to the goal.

A lot can happen in your head in those 30 seconds before you take one. You might have your mind made up where you