Beni Baningime will be sidelined for several weeks after a hamstring tear, and it is undoubtedly a blow for William Hill Premiership pace-setters, Hearts.
The influential 27-year-old midfielder missed Sunday’s 1-1 home draw with Dundee United, but Derek McInnes, the Jambos head coach, said that the injury opens the door for others.
The ex-Aberdeen and Kilmarnock boss revealed that the injury to the Congolese player, who joined the Jambos from Wigan Athletic in January 2019, came late on last Friday’s training session at Riccarton.
McInnes added: “I spoke to Beni on Friday night and he thought he was fine, so we had planned for him being in the team (against United).
“Beni’s never had a muscle injury before so he didn’t really know what was happening, but the scan results came back that he had a tear so he was ruled out (for Sunday).”
McInnes, whose men enjoy a seven-point lead in the 12-strong table – Hearts have 30 points from 12 starts and second-placed Celtic have 23 from 11 games – added: “We’ve got good players here. Players have been champing at the bit ready for an opportunity.”
Defender Craig Halkett misses the trip to Aberdeen in the first game after the international break after being booked after 97 minutes on Sunday. The date for the trip to Pittodrie is Sunday, November 23 and kick-off 15.00.
On the positive side, Portugal-born forward, Claudio Braga, has been named as the Premiership Player of the Month for October and he makes it two straight wins for Hearts players as Lawrence Shankland won the award the previous month.
This means that Hearts have collected six monthly awards since the start of the current campaign.
Meanwhile, tickets for Hearts’ trip to Motherwell on Saturday, November 29 (15.00) go on sale from 10am on Wednesday, November 12, to supporters with 60-plus loyalty points.
