Premiership boss takes responsibility after star signed from Hearts suffers gutting debut injury blow
He’s back on the sidelines after an injury blow just a day into signing with his new club from Hearts
Livingston’s head coach David Martindale has taken partial responsibility for Aidan Denholm’s recent injury after the midfielder went off injured in his debut for his new club.
The West Lothian club enjoyed an emphatic 6-0 win over Kelty Hearts in their Premier Sports Cup group stage fixture, with Andy Winter, Adam Montgomery, Robbie Muirhead, Shane Blaney and Stevie May all featuring on the scoresheet. However, Hearts fans will have been disappointed to see academy graduate Denholm coming off in the 69th minute after injuring his hamstring.
Speaking to club media after the game, Martindale confessed some of the blame of the 21-year-old’s injury may lie at his door but insists the midfielder will have the best team around him to help the recovery.
“I feel a bit sorry for Aidan he’s hurt his hamstring again”, Martindale said. “He was desperate to play, he’s done a full pre-season with Hearts I was desperate to integrate him into the squad so maybe I’ve got to take a little bit of responsibility. But, I don’t think it’s anywhere as bad as what it’s previously been. The wee man is gutted, you don’t want to be coming into a new club, making your debut and going off injured. But it’s football, and unfortunately these are the things that happen sometimes.
“We’ve just got to deal with it. We will stick by him we will make sure he’s got a good group around him so that’s really disappointing.”
The 21-year-old signed a three year deal with Jambos’ Scottish Premiership rivals Livingston and is set to wear the number six shirt at the Tony Macaroni Stadium. Motherwell and Ross County, with whom Denholm was on loan for the first half of the 2024/25 season, had both also been keen on the former Tynecastle star but it was Martindale’s side who ultimately won his signature.
Denholm came into Hearts pre-season recovering from an injury that had seen his season end prematurely. He would go on to feature in two pre-season games in Spain but then went unused in all four League Cup fixtures.
After emerging as a first team player under the former Jambos head coach Steven Naismith in the 2023/24 season, the midfielder was then sent out on loan at the start of the last campaign and, despite his brief return to Tynecastle this summer, will now link up with Macauley Tait in West Lothian with Tait on loan with Livi from Gorgie.
Martindale added in his post match presser: “I spoke to Derek (McInnes) at Hearts and he speaks very highly about Aidan. The kid is a wee bit gutted right now, but we will stick by him and we will get him through and we will get him back in the next four to eight weeks.”