Hearts suffer double injury woe vs Motherwell as key star stretchered off and midfielder helped off pitch

Hearts have suffered more injury dismay as Craig Halkett and Marc Leonard are the latest Jambos injured amid the title race.

Looking to go six points clear of Celtic in second place ahead of the Old Firm on Sunday, Birmingham City loanee Leonard went down with an ankle blow in the first half. He had to nbe helped off the pitch by Hearts physios prior to half-time and was replaced by Alexandros Kyziridis after the interval.

Then in the second half, defender Halkett went down after a slip in his own half, under pressure from Motherwell’s Elijah Just, and immediately signalled to the bench. Physios attended to the key defender before a stretcher was called for and carried him off the pitch to applause from both sets of fans. Boss Derek McInnes welcomes Cammy Devlin back into his squad for this but was still without the likes of Harry Milne, Tomas Magnusson and several others. Falkirk come to Tynecastle before a trip to Celtic on the final day as Hearts seek title glory for the first time since 1960.

How important have Marc Leonard and Craig Halkett been for Hearts?

Halkett has been a regular in central defence for McInnes and was named in PFA Scotland’s Team of the Year amid an outstanding season. Some have even tipped him for a national team call-up but it’s a cruel blow for a player who’s already battled serious injury previously in his Hearts career. McInnes has also spoke openly of the impact Leonard has made amid midfield injuries since his arrival from Birmingham City and the Jambos are already light in midfield areas.

After a win over Rangers earlier this week, Halkett said in the build-up to this clash: “I probably wouldn't have believed you, if I'm being honest. But we're here now and we’re in a great position. I think we're all just buzzing. The confidence is really high in the changing room. We had a great result on Monday and we've got another big game on Saturday and that's all we're looking at.

“There's probably Craig Gordon that's been in this position before and the rest of us, it's all pretty new. I've been pretty consistent throughout the season. I've said I think it's a good thing for us, that we don't have any past experiences, good or bad, of being in this position.

“Everything's new and we're all just going with it. We're all in good spirits. The confidence is high and we're just taking it one game at a time.”

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