Hearts face a selection crisis ahead of Sunday’s final Ladbrokes Premiership game of the season at Kilmarnock. With injuries and suspensions, the Maroons have nearly two possible teams unavailable and Head Coach Craig Levein admitted he’s not seen anything like this before in his long career.

He told the official Hearts website:

I can’t believe it, honestly. After the Hibs game I came back down to earth with a bump…it is what it is, I suppose.

“I am keen to end the season on a high and some of the young lads that will come in will do a good job for us, but it’s about trying to have a core of players who understand the league and know the game and can help young players. That’s where I’m struggling.

“It looks like we’ve got 15 fit players and three of them are goalies. That’s the whole squad.

“I’ve got Aaron Hughes, Don Cowie, Ross Callachan and Jon McLaughlin. Those are my four fit senior players.

“I got hit by this this morning. I knew about the suspensions, obviously, but there are a few who have come in this morning. Kyle’s doubtful because he hurt his shoulder the other night. That’s given him a bit of pain.

“If they’re fit and I can get them on the field then I need to play them. It’s not about taking risks; I need to put a team out on the field.

“My main reason for doing this is we’ve got supporters going down to Kilmarnock and I just wanted to make sure that everybody was aware that the journey might be a different one if it looks like, and does look like, I’m going to be playing a lot of young players.”

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Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874