Neil Critchley will be without three first-team players for his first game as Heart of Midlothian head coach.

The 46-year-old's appointment was announced earlier this week and he has worked with the players on the training ground since Tuesday morning ahead of the Scottish Premiership clash with St Mirren.

Critchley has not had the full complement of players with Craig Gordon and Kenneth Vargas amongst those on international duty. He said he would take "into consideration whether we start with them and they come off the bench or vice versa" for those who have travelled a lot.

Lawrence Shankland and Daniel Oyegoke are available after picking up knocks against Aberdeen but Yutaro Oda and Calem Nieuwenhof are a few weeks away from being available.

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"Obviously Gerald Taylor is out, that's a longer-term one," he said. "Calem was back out on the grass doing a bit of running today which is a positive step forward for him.

"Yutaro will be out for the next few weeks, unfortunately."

Meanwhile, Critchley confirmed the captaincy situation will remain the same with Shankland leading out the team.

"I spoke to Lawrence yesterday, I had a good chat with him and he explained the situation and I have no reason to change that," he said. "He's the captain on the pitch but Craig is also the club captain if you like and I'm happy with that arrangement."