Hearts reveal when Craig Gordon and Craig Halkett will be back after nine months out

Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon and centre-back Craig Halkett are closer to ending nine months out through injury after stepping up their training schedules. Riccarton coaching staff are monitoring the pair closely as they join in sessions with the first-team squad on a more regular basis.

Gordon, who suffered a double leg break against Dundee United last December, is expected to be training fully on a daily basis by next month’s international break. Halkett ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the same match and should return a couple of weeks later in November.

“Halks will probably be about November time,” Hearts head coach Steven Naismith told the Evening News. “He is now starting to join in parts of training at the start of sessions. He is getting much more touches of the ball, so that’s him gone over that hurdle. That part of the process is slightly longer just because of the period he was out and the nature of the injury.

“Craig Gordon is getting back towards full training. He has been back in doing loads of different bits of sessions so we are looking at the international break for him to be back training every day as normal and doing everything he needs. Then it’s just a case of building him up over the course of a few weeks.

“With all these injuries we have, including guys like Barrie McKay and Alex Cochrane, we will look to arrange some games behind closed doors or do more 11 v 11 work in-house. That gives these guys some minutes on the bigger pitch and bridge that gap.”