Adam Forrester will get a chance as Premier Sports Cup groups near an end

Adam Forrester is poised to step in to help Hearts’ right-back issues following an injury to the Norwegian Christian Borchgrevink. The 20-year-old youth academy graduate has watched all three Premier Sports Cup ties from the stand but is expected to play in at least one of the Edinburgh club’s next two matches.

Hearts face Dumbarton on Wednesday in their final Group E match and will be confident of gaining victory against League Two opponents. A win should also be sufficient to secure a seeding place for the Premier Sports Cup last-16 draw. However, summer signing Borchgrevink is expected to miss the match at Tynecastle Park as he recovers from a hamstring complaint.

He was substituted at half-time on Saturday evening as Hearts beat Stirling Albion 4-0 at Forthbank, medical staff advising not to take a risk with the tight muscle. Irishman Oisin McEntee moved from midfield to right-back for the second half as the Australian Calem Nieuwenhof came off the bench to play in midfield.

Forrester will now get his chance by featuring in one or both of Hearts’ next two games after making 34 senior appearances last season. The Dumbarton tie is followed by Craig Gordon’s testimonial match against Sunderland in Gorgie this Saturday. The Tynecastle head coach Derek McInnes explained the situation to the Edinburgh News, stressing that players like Forrester are being left out simply because he is trying to manage a first-team squad of more than 30 players at the moment.

“Borchgrevink felt his hamstring tight. It wasn't even up for debate so we just got him off quickly,” said McInnes. “We'll see how he is this week. We'll have a wee look at him but, thankfully, we've got other options there. We can obviously go to a back three, plus we've got Adam Forrester. It's my intention to play Adam in one of the next two games, anyway.

“We just felt that Borchgrevink needed to play at the end of the day [against Stirling]. We just wanted him to feel part of it and build his minutes up. We didn’t put Adam on the bench because we thought we'd put Stephen Kingsley there since he needs minutes. We kind of hoped to get Stephen on during the game. Even picking a bench is difficult at the minute.

“We've got Adam there to come in for right-back. I think Michael Steinwender could play there. Oisin can fill in there as well. Part of the reason that you have a look at Oisin at full-back is for the eventuality of the day. Borchevink, I think will miss the game on Wednesday, based on what I'm hearing, but he might have a chance for a Craig’s testimonial game on Saturday.”

Hearts transfers latest - Costa Rica winger back in Scotland after Gold Cup

Costa Rican winger Kenneth Vargas was also in the stand at Forthbank after returning to Edinburgh from international duty at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. His fitness is being assessed by coaching staff as McInnes juggles his attacking options ahead of the new SPFL Premiership campaign. Steinwender and Musa Drammeh watched Saturday’s game alongside Forrester, midfielder Aidan Denholm and the injured Beni Baningime.

Denholm is expected to leave Hearts either on loan or in a permanent move before the transfer window closes. Livingston are pushing hard to take him to West Lothian, while Motherwell and Ross County have also shown an interest.

Meanwhile, Hearts are hoping paperwork for incoming forwards Sabah Kerjota and Pierre Landry Kabore will be finalised in the next few days. Both players are in Edinburgh and have been attending recent Premier Sports Cup games as they await final visa documents to complete their transfers from Italy and Estonia respectively.