SPFL Premiership side keen to strengthen

Kilmarnock have enquired about Hearts winger Alan Forrest as they look to improve their squad for the second half of the season. The Rugby Park club appointed a new management team in Neil McCann and Billy Dodds last week and are in the process of strengthening before the window closes.

They are eager to sign at least one wide player and made an enquiry for Forrest, although there is no deal in place with talks currently at an early stage. The 29-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and is expected to leave Tynecastle Park for pastures new. Hearts are happy to keep him until then as a back-up option so Kilmarnock would need to put forward a convincing offer in order to secure Forrest’s services.

McCann is also keen on the Rangers winger Findlay Curtis and talks over a loan deal are progressing. McCann sees Forrest as a possible option for the rest of the season as second-bottom Kilmarnock look to move clear of the Premiership relegation zone. Forrest joined Hearts in summer 2022 from Livingston and was a first-team regular prior to this season. He has managed 14 appearances this term but only one of those have come in the last six matches.

With wingers like the Greek Alexandros Kyziridis, Albanian Sabah Kerjota and Kazakhstani Islam Chesnokov now in their squad, Hearts are well stocked on the flanks. Forrest has found himself sliding down the pecking order since the season started, although he did manage to start six games to date. He was an unused substitute in Sunday’s 1-0 Premiership win at Dundee as the Edinburgh club remained three points clear at the top of the league.

Hearts have already loaned goalkeeper Zander Clark to Doncaster Rovers and fellow keeper Harry Stone to Airdrie. Norwegian midfielder Sander Kartum is in talks about a loan deal with Wellington Phoenix. Tynecastle forward Kenneth Vargas also agreed a new loan deal, moving from CS Herediano to their Costa Rican rivals Alajuelense.

Head coach Derek McInnes hailed the win at Dundee as the best of the campaign after Claudio Braga’s first-half winner and a stunning late save by substitute goalkeeper Craig Gordon. McInnes celebrated at full-time in front of more than 4,000 Hearts fans who roared their team off the Dens Park pitch. “For me, that feels like the best three points of the season,” said the manager. “We’ve had lots of highs, but I think a lot of people would have been questioning us at half-time, thinking this might be where Hearts run out of steam. We had to do so much right. By and large we defended well, made them go round us time and time again, and had excellent penalty-box defenders.”

Hearts introduced substitutes during the second half to see the game out and ended up with five centre-backs strung across their back line. “I thought Craig Halkett, Frankie Kent, Stuart Findlay, Michael Steinwender and McCart were magnificent, and the energy everyone else put in was first-class,” said McInnes. “We were down to 10 men on a heavy pitch, everyone had to do one-and-a-half jobs. We spoke about that at half-time and everyone did it to the letter. We got our reward. Braga’s goal felt like an eternity ago, but Claudio’s goal gave us something to hang on to. I don’t think anyone could deny us the win, and the big moment was Craig’s save.”