Craig Halkett sent for a scan as Hearts deal with knee, groin and concussion issues in their squad

The central defender is to have his latest injury assessed by medical experts

Hearts defender Craig Halkett will undergo a scan today to determine the extent of the knee injury he suffered against Airdrie on Sunday. Riccarton medical staff want the problem assessed by experts before deciding what recovery programme to implement.

All concerned are hopeful that the issue is not major. Halkett was substituted on 26 minutes at the Excelsior Stadium after feeling discomfort in the knee. Hearts went on to win 4-1 to progress to the Scottish Cup quarter-finals, where they will meet Morton at Cappielow next month.

Halkett will hope to be available for that tie. He returned to competitive action late in 2023 after almost a year out with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. The latest injury is not thought to be related to that.

"He is getting a scan today so we will wait and see how that goes," the Tynecastle head coach Steven Naismith told the Edinburgh News. "It's fairly standard. When a player comes off with the feelings he had, the first thing we are going to do is scan it. It's not the injury he had which kept him out last year, but he was just feeling something in his knee."

Hearts are also dealing with a groin injury suffered by Costa Rican forward Kenneth Vargas on Sunday. He was withdrawn at half-time. "Kenneth came off because he had a tight groin," confirmed Naismith. "With the scoreline and where we were in the game, we just felt it was best to do that. He will be assessed over the next couple of days but I would expect him to be training as normal later in the week."

Japanese forward Yutaro Oda missed the Airdrie tie after suffering concussion from a head knock at training last week. It remains to be seen if he will be available for Saturday's Premiership match with Motherwell at Tynecastle.

"Yutaro was out with concussion. He is going through the concussion protocol," said Naismith. "Whether he is available for the weekend or not, we will wait and see how he gets on over the next few days. You can only do a certain amount each day, then the next morning he needs monitored to see how he feels and if he can progress to the next stage."

Winger Barrie McKay is also recovering from a knee injury sustained in December against Hibs. Hearts are hopeful he will be able to return to first-team action in the next few weeks. More on that story can be found here: McKay latest