By Barry Anderson

Copyright scotsman

After a welcome shutout on his Hearts debut against Rangers, the German goalkeeper Alexander is set to keep his place for the foreseeable future. He enjoyed a clean sheet in last Saturday’s 2-0 win at Ibrox as he passed his first Scottish football test with flying colours at a traditionally difficult venue. Lawrence Shankland scored both Hearts goals, fellow forward Claudio Braga was outstanding, while others like Alexandros Kyziridis, Cammy Devlin, Harry Milne and Craig Halkett also impressed in Glasgow. Schwolow did not need to deal with a bombardment of shots from Rangers but coped well with those efforts which came his way. Two saves in the first half saw him touch Thelo Aasgaard’s long-range attempt onto the crossbar before pushing Djeidi Gassama’s powerful low drive for a corner. The 33-year-old arrived at Tynecastle late last month as a free agent after leaving German Bundesliga side Union Berlin at the end of last season. He earned praise from the Hearts head coach Derek McInnes after his first outing for the Edinburgh club. “I thought there was a calmness to him,” McInnes told the Edinburgh News. “He didn’t have a lot to do, but I thought he looked compact, assured, good with his feet, and he covered the ground well. I think there will be other games where you can judge him, but I thought he’s used to playing in big environments and big games. He was very good, very calm. Thankfully he didn’t have too much to do with the lads in front of him.” Schwolow is now set to keep his place for Hearts’ next game, which comes next weekend when Falkirk visit Tynecastle in the Premiership. Zander Clark had been first-choice goalkeeper since the Premiership began against Aberdeen on 4 August, but Schwolow is now ahead of the Scotland internationalist in the pecking order. Craig Gordon is close to returning from a neck and shoulder injury but is currently nursing a minor hamstring complaint. He is keen to compete for the Hearts No.1 role again having been first-choice for the vast majority of last season. Ryan Fulton, third-choice last term, will be out injured until later this year. Younger goalkeepers Harry Stone and Liam McFarlane are also still in and around the first-team squad. Hearts welcome Falkirk to Gorgie seeking to maintain momentum at the summit of the Premiership table. They are currently joint-top with Celtic with 13 points from five league matches under McInnes. They have no competitive fixture this weekend as the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals take place, and focus is already on the match against John McGlynn’s newly-promoted side. Hearts’ next fixture after Falkirk is the Edinburgh derby against rivals Hibs at Tynecastle on Saturday, 4 October. READ MORE: Fresh injuries as Hearts players are sent for scans