Exclusive:Stephen Kingsley's Hearts return - plus the latest on Frankie Kent and Craig Halkett

Stephen Kingsley is one step closer to returning from injury after beginning light running at Hearts’ Riccarton training ground. The versatile defender underwent hamstring surgery in December last year but should be fit before the season ends, with the Edinburgh club chasing a top-six Premiership place and Scottish Cup progress.

Kingsley damaged his hamstring against Aberdeen on 1 December and initial fears were that he could miss the rest of the campaign. However, his recovery is progressing steadily. Hearts are hopeful he will play again before the season ends. Fellow defenders Frankie Kent and Craig Halkett remain sidelined with quad and hamstring injuries respectively.

Neil Critchley, the Hearts head coach, explained the situation with all three players to the Edinburgh News. “Stephen Kingsley was back on the pitch the other day for the first time, but only gentle running,” he said. “It was nice to see him back out on the pitch. He's still a number of weeks away, but he's in front of Frankie. Both of them will be a while yet, but Kingsley is slightly in front of Frankie. Halks as well - he isn’t quite back out on the pitch yet but hopefully he won't be too far away either.”

Asked if it would likely be the end of the season before all three are back fit, Critchley replied: “No, I hope we see all three of them. I'd expect to see Halks for sure, and Kings with him being back on the pitch for the last few days doing a little bit of running. If there are no setbacks and he keeps going the way he's going at the moment, hopefully we'll see him definitely before the end of the season.”

Hearts are assessing midfielder Cammy Devlin following a head knock sustained in Monday’s Scottish Cup win at St Mirren. Defender Lewis Neilson went off in that game with a dead leg and a decision will be taken later this week on his availability for Sunday’s Premiership match against Rangers.

READ MORE ON HEARTS: Change to come as Rangers head to Tynecastle