The incredible numbers which highlight Nathaniel Atkinson's impact on the Hearts attack

The Aussie, who is currently away with the national team, has been a concern at times defensively.

He’s fairly strong in one-on-one situations against attackers, as evidenced by his second appearance against Celtic when he was thrown into the deep-end following a first-half injury to Michael Smith. The Celtic wide players to looked to run at the 22-year-old, but he mostly rebuffed their advances.

Where he struggles is with the run in behind. Josh Doig used this to his advantage in the 0-0 derby at Easter Road before Rangers exploited it often the following game, thumping Robbie Neilson’s men 5-0 at Ibrox.

His career in Edinburgh thus far can perhaps be defined by the 4-2 Scottish Cup win over St Mirren recently. Though he was a concern at the back, his forward play was crucial to Hearts getting through the tie, especially his run and cross which led to Aaron McEneff putting his side back in front after the Buddies had erased a 2-0 deficit.

It’s on the front foot where he’s undoubtedly excelled, even more so than most fans would perhaps realise.

Using Wyscout, Atkinson was included in a list of 40 first-team Scottish Premiership full-backs to see where he ranked across key categories for those playing the position. Some of them were shockingly good.

For instance, he leads Scotland’s top flight among those at his position in three statistics: dribbles per 90 (5.99), touches in the opposing penalty box (3.44) and progressive runs per 90 (3.61). That’s him charging forward with the ball at a greater frequency than the likes of James Tavernier or Jusop Juranovic.

He is also second for shots on goal per 90 and behind only Hibs’ Chris Cadden (if you even want to count him as a right-back) at successful attacking actions per 90.