Hearts to give full squad at least 90 minutes in friendlies

Hearts plan to give 90 minutes to as many players as possible this weekend when they face Dumbarton and Partick Thistle in friendly matches.
Craig LeveinCraig Levein
Craig Levein

Most of manager Craig Levein’s squad played for 45 minutes at Arbroath on Tuesday night to ease them back into games after the close season.

Now Levein wants to see how his charges cope with a full match, or very close to it. Hearts travel to Dumbarton today for a 3pm kick-off before entertaining Partick Thistle at Central Park in Cowdenbeath at 2pm tomorrow.

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“In pre-season friendlies, it can take a while to get up to full speed. I try not to get overly up or down in what I see in these games,” explained Levein.

“I’m hoping to give everybody 90 minutes or close to it over the two games at the weekend. There may be some substitutions depending on who I feel can do the 90 minutes.

“It would be good for them all to get 90. If they don’t get 90 minutes this weekend, then there’s a game against Queen of the South next week and then we play Forfar next weekend.”

Don Cowie, Kyle Lafferty, Zdenek Zlamal, Danny Amankwaa, Conor Sammon, Harry Cochrane and Anthony McDonald did not play against Arbroath, but some of them could feature over the next two days.