Craig Halkett has provided Hearts a major injury boost as he revealed he is very close to returning to first-team action.
The defender is a key man in the heart of the Jambos' defence and his absence has been telling with goals being leaked and victories hard to come by of late. He missed last night's four goal defeat in the Europa Conference League opener to Istanbul Basaksehir.
The stopper spoke to BT Sport before the match in the build-up to kick-off and delivered a positive update on the injury front by saying he should be back for next week's away game with RFS in Latvia. That news will come as a huge delight to Robbie Neilson and the Hearts support as they look to get back to winning ways. Team-mate Liam Boyce also gave an update on his situation during his pundit duty in the studio with a date now set for his operation.
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The hitman said: "I recently received my date for the operation.
"Just now it is pre-hab and trying to keep the muscles as strong as I can because I fancy when I get the operation I won't be able to move and they will fade away.
"You've got to sort of try and get yourself as strong as possible now so it helps you at the end of your recovery."
On his injury latest, Halkett added: "It was pretty close. Again I will be pretty close at the weekend.
"But it's just about sitting down with the manager and physios and making sure I am definitely right to go.
"I am probably looking towards being back for next Thursday."
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