Hearts’ Craig Beattie in cup hope after injury all-clear

CRAIG BEATTIE is hopeful of being fit and ready for the Scottish Cup final after scans showed no damage to the Hearts striker’s hamstring.

He will not feature against St Johnstone at Tynecastle tomorrow and may not be risked against Celtic in the final match of the season. However, hopes are high that Beattie should be able to line up against Hibs in the all-Edinburgh final at Hampden in two weeks’ time. The 28-year-old injured his hamstring against Dundee United last weekend and was substituted after just 30 minutes. Scans have indicated there is no damage to the area, and therefore Beattie will be eased back into training over the next week.

“I don’t believe I’m going to have Beats for tomorrow’s game. We have to see how he’s going to improve in the next few days,” said Paulo Sergio, the Hearts manager. “The scan didn’t show anything in his leg so it’s just a pain or something not so serious. “We have Adrian Mrowiec returning to training with the group. Almost everybody is going to be fit for tomorrow. Just Beattie is out. Every time I have a player injured it concerns me. I don’t want them injured, I want them on the pitch working every day.”

Asked if he believed Beattie would be fit for the Scottish Cup final with Hibs, Sergio replied: “I don’t know, but we’re going to start that game with eleven. I’m sure about that.”