Sam suffers broken nose

Hearts U20s fell to a 2-0 defeat against an experienced Fauldhouse Utd side on Tuesday night in the Wee Jambos' final pre-season friendly.

A young Hearts team, also featuring veteran Gary Naysmith, created plenty of chances but could not finish, instead going down to a Fauldhouse goal in either half. However, the main talking point of the night was the broken nose suffered by winger Sam Nicholson.

Speaking exclusively to Hearts News, Player Development Manager Darren Murray said: "Sam's broken his nose. It looks, initially, like a bad one. We'll need to wait and see how that settles down. It's swollen right up but hopefully it's not as bad as first feared. The medical staff will see him on Thursday morning and we'll see where we are.

"I thought we started the game very well. Within the game we had 27 shots on goal. If we had finished better then we could've capitalised on a good start. The decision making we made in the final third wasn't great at times but the way we tried to play was the right way.

"There were some really good performances, especially from the younger guys. Sean McKirdy did really well for a 15 year old. Gary Oliver looked really good too, though he possibly could have grabbed a couple of goals. He's got to know when to shoot and when to pass.

"All credit to Fauldhouse, in terms of the standard we've played in pre-season I thought it went up two or three grades with Fauldhouse. They were very good, had some decent players and played some good stuff. It's the first time I've seen a junior club want to get the ball down and pass it.

"It was a test for our guys so it's not all doom and gloom, not by any manner of means. It was a good workout all round."

Hearts World