With the season now at an end, our on-loan players from Heart of Midlothian have returned to Tynecastle.

Callum Sandilands has enjoyed a yearlong loan spell at Links Park, following an initial half season loan last term. Over this time, the 20-year-old has steadily improved, establishing himself as a key figure in central midfield. Having featured 45 times for Stewart Petrie’s side this season, Callum has chipped in with an impressive 12 goals, just one behind leading goalscorer Ewan Loudon.

Gus Stevenson became the club’s first cooperation loanee back in September, when the Gable Endies and Premiership side entered into the new SPFL scheme – a flexible framework allowing young up-and-coming players more gametime. Although only 18 years of age, Gus brought a youthful energy and raw enthusiasm to the middle of the park during his 27 appearances.

Joining Gus in January as our second cooperation loan was full-back Euan Glasgow. The 17-year-old has gained valuable experience in his short time at the club, making 3 professional starts and featuring 6 times from the bench.

Manager Stewart Petrie paid tribute to the trio, saying, “There is no doubt we have benefitted greatly this year from our strengthening partnership with Hearts. The coop agreement was a new experience for us all and we took our time to select the club we felt was the right one for us.

“Gus has been a breath of fresh air around the place with his boundless enthusiasm. He has ability in abundance and huge potential. His influence on matches has been improving game by game and, if the opportunity arose, we would love to see him back next year so we could further assist with his continued development.

“Euan has also performed really well in his short time with us, but being that bit younger, is obviously at an earlier stage of his career. But again, we will keep a close eye on his availability going forward. 

“One person I don’t want to see next season is Callum. He has been outstanding this year and has such a bright future ahead of him. Having proved himself in League 1, he now owes it to himself to kick on to the next level and show what he can do.

“It has been a privilege to work with him for the past 18 months and be part of his development. He is a credit to his family, and we wish him every success for the future.

“I would finally like to thank everyone at Tynecastle again for all their help and support this season for making all these loans happen.”

Tommy North also joined the club in January as part of the cooperation agreement but returned to Hearts by mutual consent in early April. During his short spell, the 17-year-old made 5 sub appearances and scored his first senior goal against Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup at Firhill in January.