Lafferty’s on target

KYLE LAFFERTY bagged a brace as Hearts marked John Souttar’s shock return to the starting line-up with a comfortable 3-0 Betfred Cup win over 10-man East Fife.

Lafferty opened the scoring with a towering header after 22 minutes, with the delightful chipped assist for coming from Souttar, turning in a classy display on his return from six months of injury torment.

He has been absent since suffering a devastating Achilles tear against Celtic in January and, despite a cameo in a practice game against Civil Service Strollers in midweek, was not expected to be in contention for a senior return for another fortnight.