Celtic<\/a> and turbocharge their title hopes.<\/p>\nHearts analysis team have been scouring footage of Czech Republic international Cvancara.<\/p>\n
And Halkett said he and his fellow defenders will be ready. He said: \u201cDefinitely. The analysis guys here are brilliant and they go through clips of their strikers through the week, what they are good at, what they are not good at.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a new player you do not have the benefit of having played against him before, but you still go through the same process of watching all his clips.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust try to get a wee idea of how to play them. You still do it even for players you have played against numerous times.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll go through it to see if they have changed anything. We\u2019ll do that to make sure we know what we\u2019re coming up against.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearts will be looking to dump a third Celtic manager in as many games this season when O\u2019Neill rocks up in Gorgie.<\/p>\n
Brendan Rodgers\u2019 last game in charge was a 3-1 defeat in Edinburgh in October while Wilfried Nancy lost the first game of his ill-fated reign 2-1 to the Jambos in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
And Halkett said: \u201cAs everyone could see when Wilfried Nancy came in they played in a totally different style. One that took them a while to get to grips with, if they ever did.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with Martin coming in they have looked a lot more solid. The number of goals that they conceded before he came in was high for their standard but they have sorted that out in the last couple of games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how tough it\u2019s going to be. But going off the last two fixtures when we have picked up six points – there is no reason why we can\u2019t go in and try and make it nine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got the injury news early in the week so we know the ones that are not going to be available.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have just got to park that to one side and focus on the job we have in front of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the boys who are available have to get their minds on the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think you can say it has been the same 13 players who have played all season. The team has changed quite a lot and everyone who has come in has done a great job.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a collective effort, and it is just going to take a wee bit more of a collective effort over the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Halkett watched in awe as Craig Gordon stepped out of the shadows to produce a monumental moment for Hearts in this enthrallling title fight.<\/p>\n
Now the Tynecastle defender says it\u2019s time for others to emerge from the sidelines and make their own mark for the depleted Jambos on the biggest stage of all.<\/p>\n
Gordon hadn\u2019t played a single minute for the Jambos when he was thrust into action midway through the almighty tussle with Dundee at Dens.<\/p>\n
Yet the veteran goalkeeper not only stood strong after Alexander Schwolow\u2019s red card, he produced one of the most crucial moments of their season when he threw out a huge left hand to deny Emile Aquah an equaliser.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s already being classed among the 43-year-old\u2019s greatest ever saves. More importantly it rescued two precious points for the league leaders.<\/p>\n
And according to Halkett that\u2019s exactly the spirit needed when McInnes names his side – minus injured Shankland and Devlin and suspended Baningime – to go toe to toe with the Hoops.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cExactly, I think that is an example all the boys can look at.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goalkeeper position is probably one that doesn\u2019t really change through the season so for Craig to come in and do what he did was fantastic and great motivation for the boys.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe save he made was such a massive moment in the game and such a massive moment in our season.<\/p>\n
![\"Hearts](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_Heart-of-Midlothian-v-Falkirk-Scottish-Gas-Mens-Scottish-Cup-Fourth-Round-Tynecastle-Park.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Hearts manager Derek McInnes(Image: PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys will all be hoping they can be the next ones who can create the next moment that everyone looks back on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe news on Shanks was not nice to hear. He has been brilliant for us this season and obviously he is our captain.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings so much more to the team than just goals so to hear he is going to be out for the next few weeks is a hard one to take.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there are boys in his position who have been training every single week for this opportunity, and they will be chomping at the bit to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Beni out for the next couple of games as well we are going to be quite stretched in midfield, but it is up to the other boys to step up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be a lot of noise from the outside that we are losing key players but within the club we are looking to others to step up.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we are going to miss them, but we can keep ticking over. \u201c<\/p>\n
Halkett has been in colossal form for Hearts this season and could well be handed the captain\u2019s armband for this afternoon\u2019s blockbuster in the absence of skipper Shankland and vice-captain Devlin.<\/p>\n
But while the top scorer and midfield enforcer are both likely to be missing until March on the field, Halkett says their influence off it will still be massive.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old said: \u201cYeah, they are both great boys and integral parts of the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are two of the main boys for getting everybody going, through the week and before a game. Nothing has changed on that front.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though they are not out there on the pitch the two of them are there after training or in the gym they are still in about all the boys. There to help anyone who needs it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have boys who do step up and are loud on the pitch. It is another opportunity for boys who maybe are not heard as much to express their personalities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last weekend\u2019s Scottish Cup exit to Falkirk after a penalty shoot out hurt the Jambos.<\/p>\n
But having now gone out of both cup competitions on spot kicks it means McInnes side have still only lost two of their 28 competitive games this season in regulation time.<\/p>\n
A perfect four wins from four against Celtic and Rangers is testament to their six point lead at the top.<\/p>\n
Just 16 games remain between the Jambos and a monumental title triumph. But there\u2019s still no chance of Halkett taking his eye off the ball.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cPersonally it is not something I am looking at. This is just another game we want to go and win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know Celtic are always up challenging for the title so we know how difficult the game is going to be. The position we are in in the league is not something we look at.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the boys who have been here for a few years being so high in the table may feel a little unnatural but for the boys in from abroad they can just come in to a form side and ride with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHearts are on the top of the league and it is not the case that we should not be there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are there on merit. It is just about trying to win every game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nothing is being left to chance as Hearts look to strengthen their lead over the Hoops at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,13881,179777,114719,561,82,179776],"class_list":{"0":"post-431760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celtic-fc","11":"tag-craig-halkett","12":"tag-hearts-fc","13":"tag-soccer","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tomas-cvancara"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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