Hearts star to miss key game after SFA appeal rejected as Derek McInnes makes title race prediction

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes expects the Scottish Premiership title race to run until the final day of the season - but he will need to overcome one hurdle without midfielder Marc Leonard.

The Gorgie club are leading Rangers and Celtic in the the league table with six games remaining ahead of this weekend’s match with Motherwell at Tynecastle. Birmingham City loanee Leonard will not play in that match, however, after a Scottish Football Association fast track tribunal agreed that referee Kevin Clancy was correct to send him off at Livingston for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Tynecastle officials lodged an appeal believing the midfielder was unfairly dismissed after bringing down Livingston striker Robbie Muirhead as Sunday’s 2-2 draw drew to a close. Hearts made the point that team-mates Jamie McCart and Jordi Altena could have made a challenge on Muirhead and used video evidence to support Leonard’s case, but Clancy’s decision was upheld.

Why did Hearts appeal Marc Leonard red card?

“Having watched it back, the Livingston player is in his own half and has a long way to go,” said manager McInnes. “Jamie McCart has a head of steam in the same channel and the likelihood is he would get back before Muirhead can get a clean shot on goal. More pivotal is Jordi Altena’s position cutting across on the angle.

“I’m almost 100 per cent certain that Muirhead isn’t going to have the capability to get straight in on our goal without needing to beat one of our players. So that eradicates the obvious goalscoring opportunity. Not to say it’s not a chance for Livingston, I get that, but he isn’t going to get a clean run on goal.”

Hearts, Rangers and Celtic have designs on being crowned champions come May 16th and McInnes expects a fight until the death as they pursue a first title since 1960. The Jambos travel to Glasgow to face Celtic in their final match, where limited away fans will be inside the ground, while Rangers are away to Falkirk.

“I think when you look at the way the league is just now, with six games to go, I think it's more likely to go to the last game than not, to be honest,” said McInnes. “I'd rather be where we are. I think we're in the strongest position.”

What players will have Hearts have back for title race?

Hearts host the Steelmen in their final fixture before the split this weekend and should have centre-back Stuart Findlay in the squad. Sunday’s draw at Livingston allowed Rangers and Celtic to close the gap at the top, but McInnes has experienced players returning for the run-in.

“We're hopefully getting Stuart Findlay coming back for the weekend, maybe Harry Milne. I thought our attacking threat was back to where it was at the weekend with Lawrence Shankland. Adding to what we've already got, I thought we looked on point,” he said. “We were guilty of losing a couple of poor goals, but I actually think that we are excited about the prospect of where we are.

“It is quite a unique situation for us as a club to be in this sort of position, and it certainly has been for a long time. We are here now and we just want to make the most of it. I think that we're excited about the prospect of the games coming up and how we want the season to finish.

“We started the season like a train. In the first 11 fixtures, we came flying right out of the traps. It's difficult to maintain that. When you all of a sudden have that expectation - I think we've met the expectation as we went along - you go top of the league in September, and people don't think they are going to be there that long. The fact that we're still there with six games to go demonstrates a lot of right getting done. We are not perfect. Nobody said we are. We shipped a couple of points at the weekend because we lost such poor goals. So we know we need to deal with that side of it. We need to get back to being difficult to play against.”