Steven Naismith has confirmed that Yutaro Oda will miss Saturday's trip to St Mirren as the Japanese winger is still nursing a knock sustained in last week's 2-0 win over Aberdeen.

The Heart of Midlothian head coach, who was speaking to the media ahead of the cinch Premiership encounter in Paisley, also revealed that striker Kyosuke Tagawa and utility player Andy Halliday won't be included in the matchday squad.

Left-back Alex Cochrane and winger Barrie McKay remain sidelined through injury but on a more positive note, goalkeeper Craig Gordon is back in training - although the 40-year-old is still a while away from a return to competitive action.

Odel Offiah, the on-loan Brighton defender, will also return to the matchday squad as Naismith's side take on high-flying St Mirren.

The right-back travelled down south to visit a consultant when a medical issue arose earlier this month - purely as a precautionary measure - but the 20-year-old has been given the all-clear to feature once again.

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"Yutaro will miss out," Naismith told Hearts TV. "Odel is back in the group. Yutaro is the only one [from last week] who will miss out and that’s the only real change.

"Tagawa and Halliday are still out but I’m hopeful that in the next week or so they will be back. Their recovery has been good and they have progressed, but they’re just not ready. Andy is back training but he is not quite where we need him to be.

"Craig is involved in some parts of training but he just went through that period where he was building up his intensity, his minutes and everything that he is doing. He is back in the group but that is no indication that he will be back in a squad anytime soon."

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