Hearts star Craig Halkett is edging ever closer to a return after spending 10 weeks on the sidelines with boss Robbie Neilson offering an update on the injury crisis plaguing Tynecastle.
No fewer than 10 players remain unavailable for the Jambos, with Halkett and fellow defenders Kye Rowles, Stephen Kingsley and Nat Atkinson giving Edinburgh-based side a real tough run of form as they juggle continental and domestic football with a depleted squad. Nonetheless, Hearts have managed the setbacks well by registering two wins in the Europa Conference League and remain just three points behind bitter rivals Hibs with a game in hand.
But the goal for Neilson will be to replicate the impressive third-placed finish of last season, once again securing continental football, be it in the Europa League or Europa Conference League. And with injuries having stacked up over the past few weeks, he finally shed some positive light on the return of Halkett and others ahead of the upcoming World Cup break.
“[Craig] Halkett will train today, then it will be deciding what is best for him,” Neilson said. “We brought him back early for the RFS game in Latvia because we needed him and he broke down. We aren’t going to take too many risks with him because he is such a key player for us.
“Stephen [Kingsley] will probably be out until after the World Cup break. He’s got a hamstring issue and it’s disappointing for him. Stephen has been outstanding for us and has played the most minutes along with Alex Cochrane. We have had to ask him to go again and go again. Now he has this period to get himself back to full fitness. With the World Cup break coming up, it gives a number of our players a chance to focus on that and come back afterwards in top form.”
Questions were then asked of on-loan forward Stephen Humphrys, who suffered an ankle injury in the 4-3 loss to Celtic just over a week ago. The Wigan loanee has featured in 10 games for Hearts this season, scoring twice - but Neilson insists they won't rush him back.
He continued: “It’s a pain thing for him so potentially he could be back for Thursday, or potentially Sunday. We don’t really know because it’s just whenever that settles down. He got a jar in his ankle so it’s not a muscular injury. The boys are in today, a number of them will train and we will see where we are after that.”
Elsewhere, midfielders Cammy Devlin and Peter Haring could be back for Thursday's trip to Turkey.
