Five Player of the Year awards for Lawrence Shankland as Hearts captain wins Scottish Football Writers honour

The striker continues to clear up after reaching 30 goals for the season at Tynecastle

Lawrence Shankland’s goalscoring feats at Hearts have earned him a fifth player of the year award this season. The Scottish Football Writers’ Association have voted him the best player in Scotland in the week he reached 30 goals in a single campaign for the Edinburgh club.

An instinctive over-the-shoulder equaliser against St Mirren in Paisley on Wednesday night was Shankland’s 30th club goal of season 2023/24. He also has one for Scotland against Georgia but is the first man to score 30 for Hearts in one term since John Robertson in 1987/88.

He has already collected Hearts Players’ Player of the Year, Hearts Fans’ Player of the Year, PFA Scotland Player of the Year and cinch Premiership Player of the Year. The 28-year-old now adds the football writers’ award to those four as an outstanding campaign continues to deliver rewards. Previous winners include Scottish football legends Billy McNeill, John Greig, Willie Miller and Ally McCoist. “It’s good to pick up another award of that significance. It's an important one at the end of the season, everyone looks to see who gets these awards,” said Shankland. “To pick up the two [PFA Scotland and Football Writers] is good. When you look at the list and the players of the past I'm probably one of the worst on it to be fair - but you take it!

“If there was a team selected [from the list] I don't think I'd get a game! It's great to be involved in that list with the type of players on there. Some real legends of the Scottish game and even beyond Scotland like [Henrik] Larsson. There are some mad names on there.”

Shankland’s Hearts team-mate Craig Gordon has also been voted SFWA Player of the Year on three occasions. “I couldn't have told you Craigy had won it that many times,” said the striker. “I hadn't noticed until I looked at it. He didn’t tell me. Three is obviously hugely impressive. I'm just delighted to win it once.”

The accolades keep coming for Shankland after he reached the 30-goal mark this season. His strike during the midweek 2-2 draw illustrated his ability to score from seemingly-impossible angles. “I’m delighted. It’s great feeling and a great achievement for a striker to hit 30 in a season,” he explained. “When you start the season I think most people's ambition is to get over 10 and take it from there but I managed to keep the goals flowing throughout. To reach 30 is something I'm proud of.

“I wasn't counting the Scotland goal. I was keeping that as a separate entity. I felt like I wanted to get 30 club goals. If I didn't I'd have counted it. I managed to get one so will add that to the tally.” Robertson was quickly in touch to offer congratulations. “I got a WhatsApp from him. He always gives me a wee message which is nice,” confirmed Shankland.

Following 28 goals in maroon last season, Shankland set out simply to match that total this term. “I just wanted to start the campaign and try to match what I did. I felt last year my performances were really good throughout the season and I wanted to make sure I was doing that again and the goals came along with that,” he explained.

“The more the goals were going in this season and the closer you got to reaching what you got last season, you're thinking: ‘Right, I'll go and try to beat it.’ The closer I was getting to 30, I was really wanting to do that. I probably had a couple of shots I shouldn't have had on Wednesday, I was getting a wee bit desperate. I was just delighted to see that hit the net.”

The forward produced a similar finish against St Mirren during his time at Dundee United and ranks Wednesday’s one highly. “You know what? I couldn't remember where I scored it. I knew I had scored one similar, in the archive somewhere,” he smiled. “It is up there. It's a good finish and always nice to see those ones drop in.”