Hearts explain injuries to Liam Boyce and Kenneth Vargas after a huge victory at Kilmarnock

Northern Irishman was forced off and the Costa Rican was not fit to travel

Hearts forwards Liam Boyce and Kenneth Vargas are both nursing injuries ahead of Wednesday's meeting with Rangers at Tynecastle Park. The Northern Irishman was forced off during Saturday's win at Kilmarnock, whilst Vargas was not fit enough to travel to Rugby Park.

Boyce went down injured and was taken off after half an hour of the match. He appeared to jerk his leg after playing a pass and was withdrawn. Vargas injured his ankle on Friday and was ruled out. Hearts head coach Steven Naismith explained the issues with both players.

"I've not checked since we've come in but he seemed fine," he said in reference to Boyce. "When he came off he mentioned he felt something in his leg, it wasn't as if he knew exactly what it was. Whether it is a nerve issue or a muscle issue, we will see in the coming days."

On Vargas, he added: "On Friday he rolled his ankle but it wasn't too serious. He was close but I think, with the personnel and strength of our squad, we didn't need to risk him."

Lawrence Shankland's shot was fumbled into the Kilmarnock net by goalkeeper Will Dennis on 19 minutes to earn Hearts a victory which pushes them up to third in the Premiership table. It was the Edinburgh club's fourth successive league win, the first time in five years they have achieved that feat.

"It’s a good win. We experienced it earlier in the season in the League Cup when we won. It probably feels good because you know what it’s going to be like," said Naismith. "The conditions today, the pitch – it is what it is. You need to play a different way and we did that. The good point was getting the goal in the first half, which let us dictate how we want to set up and how we want to play the game.

"Every game on an Astroturf pitch is close because you know both teams are going to get a chance, whether it be down to the bounce of the ball or a slip or whatever. You’re going to concede chances but I thought we defended really well. We probably gave them one good chance that could have been a goal. They had a header late on but our positions were really good, which put pressure on them and then the boy can only head it over the bar. It’s a good win because of that, and the defensive display was really good. 

"The four wins is good. Three consecutive wins took two years for us to hit, and this has taken us five years. If I’m honest for a club like Hearts – and I’m sure a few others will say the same – it shouldn’t take five years to go on a run like that. It’s three points and it keeps us ticking over.

"The run of games is good but the way we have been dealing with them has been brilliant. Every game has been different in what we needed to do to win. And at the end there you’ve got Cammy Devlin, who has an injury and was struggling to move, not thinking twice about putting his body on the line when he needs to. Credit to the whole squad, it’s a group that’s really together."