Lawrence Shankland shakes Hearts illness off as striker gears up for Livingston and Rangers double header

Recovered Lawrence Shankland says he's 'all good' after missing Hearts' win over St Mirren - and he's ready to take aim at Livingston and Rangers before a post-split charge.

Top scorer Shankland sparked fears when he was surprisingly absent from the squad in Paisley as the Jambos picked up a strong 2-1 win on the road to cement their status as best of the rest. Steven Naismith's team look almost certain to finish third and guarantee European group stage football next season, and Shankland's 27 goals have been a massive part of that.

So the news that he's back and ready to go ahead of their final league game before the split against Livingston this weekend is promising news for the Jambos faithful. Speaking at the launch of McDonald's Fun Football programme, he said: “I’m all good, fully recovered. It was just a wee illness in the camp, but it was nothing to worry about, I’m all good."

Shankland's stunning domestic form means he looks guaranteed a spot on the plane to Germany with Steve Clarke and his Scotland team this summer and he'll be hoping to keep it up to maximise his chances of starting the opening game against the hosts on June 14.

A goal against either Gibraltar or Finland next month would help his case there - particularly after that miss against the Netherlands in Amsterdam where he blared a glaring chance to equalise over the bar. Reflecting on that one, he said: “It was a good opportunity for me to score in Amsterdam. But it’s not the first chance I have missed and it won’t be the last.

That’s the life of a striker. I did everything right, it was just a wee bit higher than I wanted the shot to go. But I wouldn’t change what I did. I would still go for the same finish. It was disappointing it didn’t go