Lawrence Shankland Hearts penalty teaser as boss Neil Critchley has his say on who will step up in Copenhagen

Neil Critchley insists he’ll back Lawrence Shankland to bury his Brugge penalty pain if Hearts are awarded a spot kick in Copenhagen tonight.

The Jambos skipper suffered a torturous night in Belgium a fortnight ago when he blazed over from 12 yards with the scoreline 1-0 before Cercle Brugge ran out 2-0 winners. That lead to ugly scenes as brassed off travelling fans turned on their captain. But Shankland bounced back with a double to end his 12-game goal drought in Saturday’s 2-0 win against Dundee.

And Critchley will have no problem keeping his number one striker on penalty duties in tonight’s crunch Conference League clash - if Shankland puts himself forward. He said: “Yeah. No problem. He's a striker, loves getting the back of the net. Scoring two goals is obviously giving him a big boost, a big lift.

“So, if he steps forward and wants to take the penalty, then no problem at all. I spoke to Shanks about that prior to the Dundee game. I haven't spoken to him yet about this one, but I will do. I'm not going to tell you what the outcome of that conversation before Dundee was because I'd give away then who would be taking a penalty! So, I don't want to tell the opposition what might happen.”

Shankland had suggested after Saturday’s game that he'd happily step aside from spot kick duties. But Critchley added: “That was the case before the game on Saturday. But he's scored two since then, so he might be different now.”

Copenhagen pose the toughest test of Hearts’ six league phase outings. But Critchley - who is without Beni Baningime who stayed at home with a knee injury but has Frankie Kent back available - won’t stand for the term “free hit”.

And he has challenged his side to hunt down a result that would secure a