Hearts star sends message after injury comeback as 'real challenge' to be relished ahead of non-stop action
The Hearts star made his comeback from injury against Stenhousemuir.
Stephen Kingsley insists Hearts’ Premier Sports semi-final clash will be one to savour - as he welcomes a relentless run of matches for Wouter Vrancken’s team.
The Jambos will face Edinburgh rivals Hibs at Hampden over Halloween weekend for a chance to reach the final after defeating Stenhousemuir 3-0 on Friday night. Kingsley made his comeback from the bench at Ochilview following a hamstring injury against Sturm Graz in late July, a further boost for head coach Vrancken at left-back, after Harry Milne’s recent return to action.
Kingsley was part of the Hearts team that came within minutes of winning the Premiership last season and knows how important a trophy would be to the Tynecastle club. Sitting second in the top flight, and with league phase games in the Conference League to juggle too, he knows it’ll be a sizeable workload for him and teammates to manage in what’s left of 2026. Having a date set for Hampden though makes that a little bit easier.
Stephen Kingsley on Hearts injury comeback
“It's brilliant that we can get the win and what an occasion to look forward to for us but obviously for the fans as well,” said Kingsley. “That's amazing, but it's just about continuing on now and we've got so many games coming up now from now until Christmas, so it's going to be a real challenge. But this is what you play football for, isn't it?
”As a collective we've been brilliant. Individually yes, obviously there's been star performers I think everyone can see that but I think collectively the levels that the group have been maintaining, even with injuries and setbacks that they've had, has been brilliant. It's been great to see everyone rally round and not sulking or this player's out or we've lost this player for X amount of months. It's a nice testament to the group and who we've got.”
Kingsley felt ready to contribute for Vrancken in their most recent Premiership match, a 2-1 win over Dundee, but Friday was decided as the best day for his shackles to come unlocked. More training sessions to get him in the best possible place for a sustained comeback ultimately became the best option.
“Yeah, I loved it,” said Kingsley of his return to fitness. “I wanted to be involved last weekend but I think everyone just made the decision to get a bit more training sessions under the belt and then prepare right for Friday. So I'm just happy to be involved and get on but most importantly we got through to the semi-final cup so that's brilliant but for myself personally it's amazing to be back involved.”
How have Hearts adapted under Wouter Vrancken?
There were early criticisms of Vrancken after defeats to Sturm Graz and Benfica in Europe, alongside an opening day defeat to Aberdeen, all coming amid a summer of high turnover at Hearts. They are now unbeaten in nine and Kingsley says it was only a matter of time before things clicked.
“I think from us it was always an understanding that we were a new coaching staff, we were a new squad, we were a new style of play,” added the experienced star ahead of facing former club Falkirk on Tuesday. “There was so much new in the summer that it was never going to be perfect straight away.
“Not only that, you're going into play Benfica and Sturm Graz, it is literally an incredible run. But don't get me wrong, we loved every minute of it, even though it obviously didn't go our way, it was a great challenge and a great experience for us and I think actually helped us be at the stage we're in now that we can actually put performances together even if people drop out.
“It was a hard first couple of weeks but I think it was actually very important for us to get through that and to learn from it. I know people start to talk and say they're not going to have a good season, but we always had a belief in us that it didn't matter, we were going to come good.
“It was a clean slate at the beginning of the season. Even though the results weren't going our way, I actually still felt like at times we were playing some good stuff, you could see what we were trying to do. It was just kind of few and far between and we conceded poor goals and it was just about clicking together and cutting out those silly mistakes. I think we look a lot stronger recently and you can see that style of play coming through, so it's just about continuing that now.”