Hearts’ Ryan Stevenson out for eight weeks

RYAN Stevenson has been told he will be out of action for at least eight weeks after a scan yesterday revealed he had a tear in his medial ligament. The Hearts midfielder sustained the damage to his leg during the first half of the Edinburgh derby on Sunday, and was substituted after briefly trying to play on.

“Ryan looks like being out for at least eight weeks,” Hearts manager Gary Locke said yesterday. “That’s a bit of a blow for us to be honest, as he’s one of our most experienced players.

“He’ll be in a brace for five and a half weeks, but the good news is he hasn’t damaged his cruciate, so from that perspective it could have been worse. Nevertheless, it is still really disappointing given the depth of squad we have at our disposal at the moment, and our focus will be on getting him back fit as soon as we can.”

Stevenson and Jamie Hamill are the two most experienced members of Hearts’ outfield squad, and the protracted absence of the former Ayr player lessens Locke’s scope for manoeuvre. Hearts are not allowed to sign any players aged 21 or over until after the closure of the January transfer window, and the manager knows he will have to rely on some very inexperienced players to get through the season.

“We’ve not really got much option this season, but they’ve done fantastically well,” Locke said of his youngsters after the 1-0 win over Hibs. “We saw a lot of them last season, and for me this is a more difficult season for them now, because the other clubs know about them now. So they have to step up to the mark again.

“A lot of them are fantastic football players and will go on to have really good careers. I know they’ve got quality. Obviously inconsistency might be a problem with boys so young, and we will have indifferent performances, there’s no doubt about that. But as I said, on an occasion like that they handled themselves really well.

“They’re all good lads and look after themselves and apply themselves in the right manner both on and off the pitch.”