Naismith Added to Hearts Growing Injury List

Hearts have confirmed the news that striker Steven Naismith will be out for 6-8 weeks after tearing a cartilage in his knee. The on-loan Norwich player received the results of his scan and has returned to his parent club for further assessment.

Hearts manager Craig Levein said:

“We had him scanned yesterday. It’s a little more awkward than normal because he’s a Norwich player. He’s got to go down there and they’re going to assess him as well. It looks like he’s got a little tear in his cartilage which we suspected.

“We’ve had a number of blows in the last three-four weeks, so we’ll just have to cope with this one as well as we’ve done with the other ones. It does leave us a little bit then on the ground up top with Uche being out as well, but we’ll get by.”

Naismith is added to Hearts lengthy injury list that includes captain Christophe Berra, John Souttar and Uche Ikpeazu. In addition, Steven MacLean has been cited by the SFA for allegedly grabbing Celtic’s Eboue Kouassi by the groin during Hearts Betfred Cup semi-final defeat at Murrayfield on Sunday. The striker faces a two-match ban although he is expected to play against Hibernian in the Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle on Wednesday evening.

First team fringe players Sean Clare and Craig Wighton are likely to feature for Hearts.