Hearts’ Craig Levein gives update on Uche Ikpeazu after striker suffers hamstring injury

Hearts manager Craig Levein hopes to have Uche Ikpeazu fit for the Scottish Cup final on May 25 after the striker suffered a hamstring injury during Saturday’s 1-0 Ladbrokes Premiership defeat by Kilmarnock at Tynecastle.

Uche Ikpeazu is taken off after picking up a hamstring injury. Pic: SNS

The Jambos frontman was replaced by Sean Clare on 48 minutes after feeling tightness in his leg and the Jambos boss admitted he may have to wrap the 24-year-old in cotton wool ahead of the Hampden clash with Celtic.

“His hamstring was a bit tight at half time,” explained Levein. “He felt he could back out in the second half and try it and I said to him that if he feels anything, there’s no point in carrying on and making it worse. So, I’m quite confident that we’ve not got any serious damage or anything like that.

“Sometimes you get warnings with hamstrings and sometimes it’s just tiredness and it can go away. By the time he’d had some rub at half time, he felt better, but he felt it again.

“These things tend to be minimum ten-to-14 days and we’ve tested the strength and it’s good.”

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Asked if he would leave Ikpeazu out of the remaining two league games against Aberdeen and Celtic, Levein replied: “If he recovers in ten games time then I might play him in the Celtic game, but we’ll see. I’ll have to be careful. I’ve already got Peter Haring touch and go on whether he gets a game before the final - or whether he makes the final.”