Exclusive:Craig Halkett's fight to stay at Hearts amid transfer talk and fitness concerns at Tynecastle

Presence and physique are two of Craig Halkett’s strongest attributes, perhaps leading you to assume that nothing rocks him. The Hearts centre-back is commanding both literally and figuratively, and many a Scottish Premiership striker would attest to him being an uncompromising character. All of that is fair comment.

However, Halkett is nearing the end of a disheartening campaign, one in which he thought his Tynecastle career may be over. Emotionally, he has felt unsettled and had to dig deep into his own personal reserves to recover. Injuries have restricted him to 18 appearances so far this season after 11 last term and just seven the year before. It is, by some distance, insufficient game time for someone at the age of 29 and supposedly in his prime.

Both last year and in January this year, the prospect of Halkett leaving Hearts grew. He is one of the club’s higher earners having been there six seasons, new centre-backs arrived to add greater competition than ever in his position, and his own fitness problems seemed relentless at times. It took all his strength of character to battle back, helped by physios and sports scientists at Riccarton, and reclaim a place in the starting line-up. That finally happened at Ross County on Saturday.

Speaking exclusively to the Edinburgh News, Halkett describes the frustration over his fitness and the doubts which lingered over his Hearts future. In keeping with that physicality, he will not be phased out of Tynecastle easily. “I was like that even at the start of the season,” he reveals. “I had to have conversations with the coaching staff to say that I wasn't just happy sitting here in the bench. I wanted to fight for my place and, when the opportunity came, I said I wanted to take it.

“I wasn't going to be one of those players that would just sit there and sit in the bench and, if I wasn't playing, I was just going to stay. Some people might think you're sitting at Hearts and they are a massive club and you're happy just to stay here. Well, it wasn't me. I wanted to play football, especially after the last few years I've had since I've had my knee injury. Playing football was so important to me. I remember it looked for a period that I wasn't going to be at Hearts but, basically, I've got my head down and I've worked hard and thankfully I got back in the team on Saturday.

“It's been a hugely frustrating season for me. I've not played anywhere near enough minutes that I wanted to play, or that I saw myself playing at the start of the season, but I've just had to get my head down. I've worked hard and I'm feeling the fittest I've ever been. So, it's just about waiting for an opportunity and thankfully I got it on Saturday. I feel like I performed well and hopefully I can finish the season on a higher level.”

Christmas gift but then back to earth with a bump in New Year

Fitness problems brought criticism for a player labelled with the old ‘injury-prone’ tag by some, so it is intriguing hearing him say that he now feels fitter than ever. Natural curiosity makes you wonder what is different this time. Halkett happily elaborates. “Obviously, when I came back into the team just after Christmas, we played five or six games in a row and I felt good. I felt a good partnership with Jamie McCart and the last thing in my head was picking up another injury. Obviously, it was unfortunate that I did [a hamstring against Kilmarnock on 25 January].

“Stephen Kingsley and Frankie Kent were injured at the same time and I think the rehab that we did with the medical staff and the sports scientists was really tough. I think they got us to a level that we've maybe not been at in a couple of years. They got us to a stage where, when we were coming back into training, we were probably way fitter than what we needed to be to get back involved. We'd done an extra wee bit with them, so they got us in a good position.

“Like I said, I'm feeling great. With the three of us injured at the same time, obviously that helps when you're working. You're not just doing it on your own, but we had quite a lot of football and ballwork sessions with the three of us and with the medical staff involved. So that, alongside a lot of tough running, got us into the position that we are in now.”

New Hearts signings in transfer window bring huge competition

Kingsley, Kent and Halkett returning to fitness means Hearts currently have seven first-team players capable of playing in central defence. The others are January signings McCart, Michael Steinwender and Harry Milne, plus Lewis Neilson. Competition for places is fierce. For Halkett, it is another challenge to rise to. “Oh, definitely. I've been here a long time now. It's my sixth season and there have been a lot of centre-backs that came and went,” he says.

“Right now is probably the most stacked that the centre-back position has been with players. Every week, it's more important that you need to be at it. Your standards need to be high because you're not just going to play on a Saturday and train how you want and play the next week. You need to be at it to make sure you stay in the team. I feel like, since I came back six or seven weeks ago, that's what I've been doing and just been waiting for my time.”

He contributed to an important Hearts win on Saturday whilst back in the starting line-up. Interim head coach Liam Fox oversaw a 3-1 victory at County after Ronan Hale put the hosts ahead. Lawrence Shankland’s two goals and Alan Forrest’s late strike demonstrated some much-needed character from the Hearts players.

“I thought we actually started the game really well. You find yourself going 1-0 down and you think: 'This has been the story all season.’” admits Halkett. “But to just keep doing what we're doing, we had a gameplan that we worked on all week and I think we carried out pretty well. Also, I think it was important that the boys never dropped their heads. It would have been easy, obviously, with the way the season has gone, the way that the last week had been at this point for everyone. But we didn't, we showed good character. We came back, scored three good goals and thankfully in the end it was pretty comfortable three points.”

Fox’s plan was to simplify instructions for the squad at the end of a difficult week following head coach Neil Critchley’s sacking. “He just spoke about going back to what we had done in the past, what had worked,” explains Halkett. “Just keeping the ball simple, keeping the passes simple, playing it wide, people running forward and just doing the simple things well. I don't think it was anything that was massively changed. It was just doing the basics really well and I think we did that. We got the ball wide, we got people running forward, we got bodies in the box, we got more shots and thankfully we got the goals.”

Some travelling Hearts fans vented their anger at the club’s board during the match, but Halkett stresses that was not a huge distraction from the task at hand. “You don't really hear it. You're focused on the game,” he says. “Obviously, at the time we were 1-0 down, you can hear the frustration. But the fans have paid their money, they've travelled up. I'm not going to say what they should say and what they can't say. So, for us, it doesn't really affect us. We've just got our head down and it was important for us to get back in the game.”

READ MORE: Hearts get far more than £10m from Tony Bloom