Exclusive: Six Hearts players battling injury and illness after Premier Sports Cup ties.
Sunderland, an English Premier League team, will visit Edinburgh. Six Hearts players are out injured or ill after a successful Premier Sports Cup group stage.
Riccarton’s medical staff will assess a number of the first-team squad in the coming days, but head coach Derek McInnes expressed satisfaction with the team’s progress to the knockout phase.
A 4-1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic, followed by three consecutive 4-0 victories over Hamilton Academical, Stirling Albion, and Dumbarton, propelled Premiership side Hearts into the last 16.
They are very likely to be seeded for Sunday’s draw once all group games are completed.
However, some players are working to recover from injuries or illnesses sustained this month. Centre-back Frankie Kent was replaced in the final minutes of Wednesday night’s match against Dumbarton at Tynecastle Park due to groin pain.
The injury is not believed to be serious, and he left the stadium hoping to be available for Craig Gordon’s testimonial match against Sunderland on Saturday.
Gordon is struggling with fitness due to a shoulder injury and is expected to play only a portion of his benefit match as a result.
Beni Baningime, a midfielder, missed the Stirling and Dumbarton matches due to a minor strain, while right-back Christian Borchgrevink is out with a hamstring injury.
Again, neither problem is particularly serious, and both players are attempting to demonstrate their fitness ahead of this weekend.
Another midfielder, Yan Dhanda, is ill, and centre-back Jamie McCart will be out until September after injuring his ligaments earlier this month. McInnes spoke with the Edinburgh News about the availability of his large squad, and he hopes to see as many players recover as possible.
He wants every player ready for the William Hill Premiership opener against Aberdeen on Monday, August 4. For the time being, he is satisfied with 16 goals scored and one conceded in four Premier Sports Cup matches.
“Sometimes you’re constantly thinking, ‘What do we need now? What’s next? But I think it’s always refreshing to go back to when you first arrived for pre-season testing and see where you’ve come,” the head coach explained.
“I believe we would have taken this at the moment, ideally without injuries to Jamie, Borch, and Beni, but hopefully Beni and Borch will get a chance on Saturday.
Neither of their injuries appear to be serious at the moment. “Yan missed last night’s game due to illness; he has been ill for three or four days.
There is some sort of gastro issue going on, so we’ll see how everyone is in the next few days.
We’ll recover the ones from Wednesday and then wait until Saturday. We are looking forward to it. I believe it will be a fitting occasion for Craig, as well as a fantastic game to cap off our preparations for Aberdeen.”
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In the aftermath of the Dumbarton win, McInnes detailed Gordon’s role for Saturday against his former club. “Craig has not given up yet and is still trying. How long he can get on the pitch for, we don’t know yet,” said McInnes. “Obviously we’ve got to make sure that we’re not doing anything to accelerate an injury that’s going to make him worse. Craig has got to be comfortable with that, we need to be comfortable with that. Craig will take the team out, that’s the intention and how long he can play, it remains to be seen. He’s certainly trying to get there for it.
“Borchgrevink had a scan on his hamstring. His knee is fine, that has settled. He had a wee bit of a contusion, a wee bit of a block tackle at Stirling, but I think we’re not expecting it to be anything too sinister. I think he’s got a chance for Saturday, certainly.”
Hearts will be motivated and focused for Saturday’s friendly against English Premier League opponents.
McInnes wants the game to be treated as competitive so that his team can make the most of their final official game before the Premiership season begins. “I think if you approach it any other way, you’ll get a sore one,” he told me.
We’re playing Sunderland, and if we’re not competitive, you don’t want to wait nine or ten days for the Aberdeen game after having a sore one. “I believe the game will be treated properly. It’s still a pre-season friendly in the sense that it’s a testimonial game, but Scotland faces England, a Premier League team with talented players.
We don’t want to let good players come up here and take liberties with us, so we’re going to make sure that we’re as good as we can be at this stage against them. I think it will be a good game for us, bearing in mind the complete contrast that we’ve had [from Premier Sports Cup ties].”
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