Hearts suffer fresh injury woe as Demetri Mitchell is sidelined

Hearts on-loan left-back Demetri Mitchell has suffered an identical injury to the one he sustained last February which kept him out for eight weeks. Picture: Getty.

It is a second hammer blow for the capital club emanating from that routine victory over the Juniors, with Michael Smith expected to be sidelined until at least April after scans on Monday confirmed he has torn his thigh muscle.

Mitchell’s setback came as a bolt from the blue for shell-shocked manager Craig Levein, who was informed of the injury by club physio Karen Gibson yesterday morning. The 22-year-old will return to parent club Manchester United this week to formally ascertain the severity of the complaint.

However, the initial prognosis is that Mitchell has torn his meniscus tendon – a cruel case of deja vu for the player, who suffered an identical injury to the same knee last February. On that occasion he was sidelined for eight weeks before featuring in Hearts’ final two league games of the campaign.

“Demi has a cartilage problem. We suspect that it is a tear and he thinks the same thing - having done it before,” said a deflated Levein. “He did the same knee and the same lateral meniscus at the tail-end of last season. He got back just before the end of last season but I’ll need to speak to Manchester United now and we’ll find out the extent of it.

“He didn’t remember doing anything [against Auchinleck] to cause the injury but it must have happened during the game. He had been suffering from a lack of confidence for a while and had just got that back, so it is unfortunate. I feel really sorry for him.”

Meanwhile, medical scans have confirmed defender Michael Smith is out for eight weeks with a torn thigh  muscle. He suffered the injury near the end of Sunday’s tie against Auchinleck and underwent a scan on Monday afternoon

The results confirm Hearts must do without one of their most consistent players until April. “It’s probably eight weeks we’re looking at,” explained manager Craig Levein. “He has torn his thigh muscle, it’s a grade two tear but there’s a bit of tendon damage as well so it’s a bit more complicated. It will keep him out for a fairly lengthy period of time.

“It’s a blow for us to lose Michael but we just have to get on with it. There is nothing else for it.”

The 30-year-old has made 34 appearances for Hearts in a swathe of different positions this term and was recently rewarded for his consistency with a new contract until 2021. He also featured for Northern Ireland against Israel and Austria last year, taking his tally of caps to four.

Smith will miss the Scottish Cup quarter-final against Partick Thistle and, should Hearts progress, would be toiling to make the Hampden semi-final in mid-April. He will also sit out his country’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Belarus and Estonia next month.

“It happened in a match so there’s nothing you can do about it, you just have to accept it,” Levein added. “It was innocuous, it happened to his standing leg and was just to do with the way he twisted after a shot.

“The medical team here have done brilliantly to get other players back so hopefully we can get him back fighting fit for the tail end of the season.”

Levein will call upon Canada internationalist Marcus Godinho to fill the void left by Smith, while Jamie Brandon will provide another option when fully fit after a serious cruciate ligament injury.

“We have Marcus and Jamie back and they have both played and played well in the past,” said the manager, who takes his side to face Motherwell on Sunday. “I have been pleased with Marcus when he has played so I have no complaints there.

“Jamie has been out for quite a period of time and I don’t think he has played a reserve game yet. So he might take another two or three weeks.”