What Steven Naismith has said on Cammy Devlin Hearts frustration

Hearts' Cammy Devlin has had an unfortunate week. The 25-year-old Australian appeared from the bench once again against Rangers and has been left out of his national side for the second time this season.

The midfielder has arguably been one of Hearts' most consistent performers this season with Edinburgh News' Barry Anderson reporting it is his strongest season since arriving on the Scottish shores two years ago.

However, the view of many Jambos fans has not been reflected by those making the decisions at Tynecastle as Devlin failed to make the starting XI in both the recent fixtures against Rangers with his manager Steven Naismith opting for the 25-year-old's compatriot Calem Nieuwenhof instead.

When asked whether he understood Devlin's "frustrations", the Jambos boss said: “At Ibrox, I don’t know if he can complain about the players who were playing in that match. I think the team we picked was very good and it showed in the performance and showed that for 90 minutes we were winning the game."

Hearts did, however, go on to lose that particular game 2-1 with both Gers' goals coming after the 90 minute mark.

“But every player in the squad’s going to have points where they’re playing and where they’re not playing", said the ex-Scotland forward. “If we win, people don’t mention things about starting selections or subs. If we lose, people will mention them.

“One week, I was getting praised for Alex Lowry coming on against Killie, the next week I’ll have been getting criticised for not picking somebody. It’s part and parcel, it’s going to happen.

“When you’ve got such a big backing, not all of the 20,000 Hearts fans would be picking the same team in every game. That is what it is. The job I’m in, I’m the guy who picks it and, over time, hopefully I pick the right team that gets us results."